Defendant Is Sentenced 46 Months In Prison For Attempting To

[DMF]

http://www.atf.gov/press/fy05press/field/040405mia_mansentenced.htm

April 4, 2005

NEWS RELEASE:
DEFENDANT IS SENTENCED 46 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR ATTEMPTING TO
EXPORT AK-47 WEAPONS TO COLOMBIA


Marcos Daniel Jiménez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Jesus Torres, Special Agent in Charge, Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Julie Torres, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; and Robert E. Harris, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, announced today that defendant, Guillermo Cardoso-Arias, was sentenced in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on April 1, 2005, by United States District Court Judge James I. Cohn, to a term of forty-six (46) months in prison.

The two-count Indictment charged Cardoso-Arias with knowingly engaging and attempting to engage in the business of brokering activities with respect to the export of two hundred (200) AK-47 fully automatic assault rifles, in violation of Title 22, United States Code, Section 2778, and attempting to export two hundred (200) fully automatic AK-47 assault rifles without a license, in violation of Title 22, United States Code, Section 2778. The defendant faces a maximum statutory sentence of ten (10) years in prison per count.

In law enforcement monitored and recorded conversations, Cardoso-Arias asserted that he was purchasing the two hundred (200) AK-47 fully automatic assault rifles on behalf of the Colombian "Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia" ("AUC"), known as the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. The defendant further stated in the referenced conversations that the weapons would be used to fight the Colombian "Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia" ("FARC"), known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia." The defendant explained that there was a need for a lot of AK-47's because they are lighter and easier to handle than other weapons when climbing the mountains of Colombia. Both the AUC and FARC have been designated by the U.S. State Department as terrorist organizations.

Mr. Jiménez commended the investigative efforts of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and Defense Criminal Investigative Service. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael Walleisa.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.

 

[Jeff White]

Where did he get 200 real AKs? Was he trying to import them and then export them? Or were they clones that had been converted? Or was he trying to buy them and got caught up in a sting?

Jeff

 

[c_yeager]

It sounds like he was trying to order them from a commercial U.S. source and have them delivered to Columbia. Which would seem like a really expensive and complicated way of going about getting rifles to South America. It almost sounds like he just called them on the phone and tried to make an order. The article isnt overly clear though.

 

[thorn726]

pretty light sentence really.
i odnt understadn the 10 years per part of that, charges pending? isnt that what eneded up at 46 months?

46 months for sending 200 AK's to rebels, and an ex con gets eight years for just having a gun?

wasnt that what the shot his foot off guy got?

 

[thorn726]

Where did he get 200 real AKs?

i may be wrong, but it sure looks like he didnt. he was trying to buy them from Feds.
i dont know how i feel about those types of busts, govt agents going out looking for people that want to trade arms.
hunting criminals is one thing, fishing for them is another

 

[Double Naught Spy]

Sure enough, fishing allows criminals to let themselves look really stupid in what often turns out to be controlled and well recorded circumstances. What makes criminals look really stupid is the fact that they know law enforcement does this sort of thing and yet time and time again, they get caught by such fishing expeditions.

 

[hammer4nc]

I'd bet a sawbuck that this is just one of many Colombian arms traffickers who have fallen out of favor for one reason or another; most likely threatening the CIA cash flow? IIRC Colombia is the second biggest US foreign aid sink (hundred of millions $$), most of that goes for military equipment. Paramilitary AUC, is intimately tied to the Colombian military. EVERY political group in Colombia derives sustenance from the coca trade.

What is the pertinant message of this story? That the USA is now helping the marxist FARC terrorists? That ATF is capturing dangerous criminals? That Manuel Noriega gets a chess partner for the next couple of years?

 

[jefnvk]

Fishing for criminals is why I laugh at my friends when they say I should convert my AR to full auto. Some people are just too dumb to notice a trap when they walk into it.

 

[publius]

The two-count Indictment charged Cardoso-Arias with knowingly engaging and attempting to engage in the business of brokering activities with respect to the export of two hundred

Hey, at least it's international commerce. This time.