Among their other multitude of used: deliver people across town, fly to and from airports, assist in rescue work, and aid in the search for missing or wanted persons.
Their trial was halted during the summer because a key suspect was missing; the arrest of Mr Perry, who is now in Germany awaiting possible extradition, may allow proceedings to restart.
It is currently estimated that at least 2, 000 are dead and missing after Friday's earthquake unleashed a vicious tsunami that swept Japan's northern Pacific coast.
"In the group of kids I taught two weeks ago," Randa explains, "one had a brother who was missing, another lost a cousin, and another had a relative who died in Qaddafi's shelling."