Blackwater's Sudan operations ignored U.S. sanctions

Quote: The focus on Sudan was part of a broader federal probe of Blackwater that began in 2006 and also examined the alleged bribery of foreign officials in Jordan, Iraq and Sudan and the alleged illegal exports of rifles, silencers and other military hardware to the Middle East, some of it hidden in pallets of dog food. The U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, where Xe Services is based, established a special task force that at times comprised as many as two dozen federal agents from at least eight U.S. agencies. They included the Justice, State, Defense, Homeland Security, Treasury and Commerce departments and the FBI and CIA Inspector General's Office. Prosecutors convened a grand jury in North Carolina to consider the case.