Glamorous Iranian woman living high life in Los Angeles is arrested for trafficking deadly drones and bombs for Tehran

By EMMA RICHTER, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Published: 16:13, 19 April 2026 | Updated: 16:28, 19 April 2026 A glamorous Iranian woman living a lavish life in Los Angeles was arrested for allegedly trafficking deadly drones and bombs for Tehran.  Shamim Mafi, 44, was taken into custody at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday night and charged with allegedly brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition to be sold to Sudan, the US Attorney for the Central District of California said.  Mafi left Iran in 2013 and became a permanent US resident in 2016 under the Obama administration, officials stated.  The Woodland Hills resident allegedly used Atlas International Business, an Oman-registered company, to broker weapons deals as recently as 2025, according to court records obtained by the New York Post.  One of her sales included a contract for more than $70 million for Mohajer-6 armed drones made by Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.  Those drones and 55,000 bomb fuses were transfered in deals with the Sudanese Ministry of Defense, which has beeen fighting in a violent civil war since 2023.  According to phone records included in court documents, Mafi had direct contact with Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) between December 2022 and June 2025.  During her time in America, Mafi has shared pictures of her living the high life, including an image of her posing in a $100,000 Mercedes-Benz.  She told investigators that she has never been hired by Iran to conduct any activites for Tehran on American soil.  Breaking news.... updates to follow.   Shamin Mafi, 44, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday night fir allegedly trafficking deadly drones and bombs for Tehran Mafi (pictured being arrested) left Iran in 2013 and became a permenant US residnet in 2016 under the Obama administration, officials stated No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.