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ATF arrests Beaverton man for shipping weapons to Japan
BEAVERTON - A Japanese national has been arrested on charges of running an illegal gun business that shipped weapons to his home country.
The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives last week filed a criminal complaint against Kozo Wada alleging he was illegally selling guns in Japan, received or possessed guns that weren't registered to him and possessed a machine gun without the proper registration.
Wada, 44, is a legal resident in the United States.
He appeared in U.S. District Court in Portland on Tuesday and through his attorney said he was openly selling disabled guns as replicas through a Web site. His business, U.S. Mart Company, is based in Beaverton.
Wada has no federal firearms license, but he bought more than 175 firearms from November 1999 to September 2002, according to an affidavit supporting the complaint.
Japan has some of the strictest gun control policies in the world.
A search last week of his Tualatin workshop netted 126 guns, 28 of which he bought from federally licensed dealers in Oregon. Included in the seizure was a World War II-vintage Japanese machine gun, which requires special registration in the U.S.
In court on Tuesday, ATF Special Agent Monique Y. Villegas testified that she spoke with a licensed gunsmith who worked for Wada. She said the man told her he removed firing pins, dismantled guns and disabled gun barrels so they could be shipped to Japan.
But, Villegas alleged, those guns could be "readily made to be operable," and as such, are classified as firearms under federal law.
Christopher J. Schatz of the Federal Public Defender's Office, who is representing Wada, said Wada was simply transforming the guns into a sellable item.
The judge ruled hold Wada in custody until a Feb. 27 arraignment.
http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=54610
BEAVERTON - A Japanese national has been arrested on charges of running an illegal gun business that shipped weapons to his home country.
The US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives last week filed a criminal complaint against Kozo Wada alleging he was illegally selling guns in Japan, received or possessed guns that weren't registered to him and possessed a machine gun without the proper registration.
Wada, 44, is a legal resident in the United States.
He appeared in U.S. District Court in Portland on Tuesday and through his attorney said he was openly selling disabled guns as replicas through a Web site. His business, U.S. Mart Company, is based in Beaverton.
Wada has no federal firearms license, but he bought more than 175 firearms from November 1999 to September 2002, according to an affidavit supporting the complaint.
Japan has some of the strictest gun control policies in the world.
A search last week of his Tualatin workshop netted 126 guns, 28 of which he bought from federally licensed dealers in Oregon. Included in the seizure was a World War II-vintage Japanese machine gun, which requires special registration in the U.S.
In court on Tuesday, ATF Special Agent Monique Y. Villegas testified that she spoke with a licensed gunsmith who worked for Wada. She said the man told her he removed firing pins, dismantled guns and disabled gun barrels so they could be shipped to Japan.
But, Villegas alleged, those guns could be "readily made to be operable," and as such, are classified as firearms under federal law.
Christopher J. Schatz of the Federal Public Defender's Office, who is representing Wada, said Wada was simply transforming the guns into a sellable item.
The judge ruled hold Wada in custody until a Feb. 27 arraignment.
http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=54610