Editors Note: The following press release is directly from ATF. Regular readers of AmmoLand News know our stance on the unaccountable Federal Agency: No comment. We invite our readers to leave their hard-hitting insights in the comments below.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – -(AmmoLand.com)- Eleven defendants have been convicted and sentenced in a conspiracy to smuggle at least 200 firearms from Ohio to Canada for tens of thousands of dollars.
Abdulwahab Sharif Mohamed Hassan, 30, of Columbus, Ohio, was sentenced in federal court today to 72 months in prison.
A federal grand jury charged the co-conspirators in indictments returned on Aug. 19, 2020, and Nov. 19, 2020. Defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 12 months and 1 day to 72 months of imprisonment.
The defendants acquired firearms both legally and illegally, stockpiled the firearms, and smuggled them to Canada to re-sell them for a profit. The group bought guns both through private sales and through straw purchases at gun shows.
For example, in April 2019, co-conspirators caused two individuals to conduct straw purchases of four firearms at the C&E Gun Show at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus.
Defendants recruited female drivers to smuggle firearms across the border or to bring money back from Canada through promises of a free trip to Canada, payment, and access to drugs and alcohol.
In July 2018, more than $11,000 was seized by law enforcement from two of the defendants on one trip back to Ohio from Canada. Two months later, more than $25,000 in cash was seized from two other defendants at the John Glenn International Airport. For his part, Abdulwahab Hassan reported during the sentencing process that he had approximately $88,000 in cash on hand, despite not having a job during time periods relevant to the firearms-trafficking conspiracy.
On various occasions in 2019, individuals related to the conspiracy attempted to travel to Canada and were stopped by law enforcement. During each incident, multiple firearms were discovered in the vehicles.
In total, the defendants conspired to smuggle more than 200 guns from Ohio to Canada from approximately July of 2018 through about the middle of 2019. To date, at least 10 of those guns have been directly traced to crimes in Canada.
Those convicted in the conspiracy include:
Vipal J. Patel, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Roland Herndon, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant; United States Marshal Pete Tobin; Ohio Highway Patrol Superintendent Lt. Col. Richard Fambro; and Franklin County Sheriff Dallas Baldwin announced the sentences imposed. Assistant United States Attorneys S. Courter Shimeall and Kelly A. Norris represented the United States in this case.
Columbus Field Division
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives
ATF is the federal law enforcement agency responsible for investigating violations of the federal firearms and explosives laws and regulations. More information about ATF and its programs can be found at www.atf.gov.
Bottom line, these individuals obtained firearms and found a market for them kind of like fast and furious, why wasn’t Obama and Holder arrested?
LOOK, I’m sorry for anyone who thinks they were wronged, but clearly they were tried in a court of law, and convicted of smuggling firearms across an international border. How they obtained those firearms may or may not have been legal, I’m sure they never declared the money; but that doesn’t concern me. What does concern me is the imaginable uses those unregistered firearms will have once they are the hands of criminals in Canada. Does anyone want to venture a guess as to whether the new owners are Canadian Muslims? I’m not going to speculate about whether they are… Read more »
You might want to take a look at the link in red, that lists all 11 “people” who were involved. It wasn’t just Ohio men that were caught.
Looks like the government thugs are bragging about armed robbery, aggravated kidnapping, and violation of rights again.
The wording was odd, but note the involvement of local law enforcement once again.
The people arrested were probably objectively “bad.”
However, when the BATFE works with local law enforcement to enforce never-ending gun control laws against the local dentist, the dentist will be portrayed as a white supremacist, far-right extremist, with an “arsenal” and hundreds of rounds of ammunition (shudder).
Buying firearms and stockpiling them is NOT a crime per the second amendment no matter if you buy them for yourself or your friend. The legislators passing laws that counter the constitution are as criminal as the judges, lawyers and people trying to enforce them. I don’t know what laws Canada has against/for firearm import and I doubt they have anything like the second amendment. Maybe this is another case where the governments are mad because they did not get their cut? The atfe is infamous for it. As politically incorrect as it is to look at the name of… Read more »