Fact Sheet
Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
Washington, DC
July 3,
2006
U.S. Arms Export Control Compliance and Enforcement and the UN Program
of Action for Small Arms and Light Weapons (SA/LW)
The United States has long been committed to vigorous arms export
control compliance and enforcement measures. Since the adoption of the
Program of Action at the conclusion of the United Nations Conference to
Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light
Weapons in All its Aspects in July 2001, the United States has continued
to expand and enhance its compliance and enforcement efforts. As the
United Nations Review Conference on the Program of Action convenes from
June 26 through July 7, 2006 (with the exception of July 4, Independence
Day, which the UN observes), the importance of robust export controls and
enforcement is more essential than ever in successfully combating the
illicit trade in arms of all kinds. The figures below illustrate
increasing success in criminal enforcement actions during the past five
years.
Arrests and Convictions for Arms Export Control Act (AECA)
Violations
Fifty-nine arrests for AECA-related violations were
recorded in 2001; a high of ninety-four arrests were logged in 2003. There
have been eighty-six arrests already in 2006, in what can be expected to
be a record year. For 2001, there were thirty-nine convictions for
AECA-related violations; in 2005 there were nearly double that number
(sixty-nine). There have been thirty-two convictions registered already in
2006. The following sections provide illustrative case summaries of export
violations involving small arms and light weapons (SA/LW), recent arms
brokering convictions, and examples of the successful use of end-use
monitoring to thwart the illicit trade in SA/LW.
- Smuggling Machine Guns and Grenade Launchers to the U.S.
From Vietnam. On November 2, 2005, Daniel Edward Rogers, a
former U.S. law enforcement officer, was sentenced to 51 months in
prison for smuggling 85 machine guns, four grenade launchers and an
assortment of pistols into San Francisco on two Air France flights in
1994. The charges stemmed from investigations by Immigrations and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and
Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Rogers, originally indicted in 1995, was
a fugitive in Thailand for nine years before being returned to the U.S.
for arrest, with the cooperation with Thai authorities.
- Weapons to Colombian Terrorist Group. On February
11, 2005, Carlos Gamarra-Murillo, a Colombian national, pleaded guilty
in Tampa, Florida, to charges of providing material support to a foreign
terrorist organization and violating the AECA. The plea was the result
of an ICE investigation that showed Gamarra-Murillo plotted to provide
nearly $4 million worth of arms to Colombia’s Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). Gamarra-Murillo sought to illegally
export roughly 4,000 grenades, 1,800 assault rifles, as well as 60
grenade launchers and 60 machine guns to Colombia via Venezuela.
Gamarra-Murrillo allegedly offered to pay undercover ICE agents posing
as weapons suppliers 60 percent of the payment in cocaine (2,000
kilograms) and the remainder in U.S. currency upon delivering the
weapons shipment to a clandestine airstrip in Venezuela. On August 8,
2005, Gamarra-Murrillo was sentenced to 25 years Federal
imprisonment.
- Military Laser Sights to Foreign Locations. On
April 27, 2005, Sotaro Inami, a Japanese national, was sentenced to 15
months imprisonment for conspiracy to export U.S. munitions list
articles to Japan. Inami and co-conspirator Takashi Matsubara had been
charged in July 2004 as a result of an undercover ICE and Defense
Criminal Investigative Service investigation. According to the
indictment, the defendants conspired to purchase and illegally export
military laser sights for M-16 and M-5 rifles to locations outside the
United States. Inami was arrested at the Los Angeles airport on February
17, 2004 after he arrived to attend a weapons show in Las Vegas.
- Assault Rifles and Machine Guns to Philippines. ICE
agents arrested Victor "the Devil" Infante, the accused leader of an
international firearms and methamphetamine distribution organization,
after a 9-month investigation that involved law enforcement agencies in
the Philippines, New York, New Jersey, California, and Louisiana.
Infante was charged with the attempted export of assault weapons,
including MAC-11 submachine guns, MP-5s, HK-94s, Colt AR-15s, and Uzi
Model Bs, to the Philippines. Philippine authorities contend that
Infante supplied arms to the Abu Sayyaf terrorist organization. He pled
guilty to drug-related charges on September 20, 2004 and is awaiting
sentencing.
- Weapons to Colombian Terrorist Groups. On August
19, 2004, a federal grand jury in Miami, Florida charged seven
individuals with conspiracy to illegally export arms, ammunition, and
other military supplies to organized paramilitary groups in Colombia,
including the FARC and the Autodefenseas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), a
designated foreign terrorist organization. The charges resulted from a
joint investigation by ICE and ATF. The investigation, which began after
agents responded to a flooded warehouse in Miami that contained weapons
destined for South America, ultimately resulted in the seizure of more
than 200 weapons and more than 700,000 rounds of ammunition. Six members
involved in this conspiracy were arrested and convicted pursuant to plea
agreements in U.S. District Court. One member is currently a fugitive.
The remaining defendants are awaiting sentencing.
Arms Brokering
Control of arms brokering
activities is critical to preventing the illicit arms trade. Weak or
non-existent brokering laws and regulations in many parts of the world
allow arms brokers to procure military-grade weapons for terrorist and
violent insurgent groups, often in violation of United Nations sanctions
as well as national laws, with impunity. The United States amended the
AECA to comprehensively address arms brokering in 1996. During the past
five years, enforcement of the U.S. arms brokering law and convictions for
violations have continued to rise. The following is a summary of recent
convictions for brokering and export related violations, including several
involving SA/LW:
- Assault Rifles and Machine Guns to Colombia. Carlos
Alberto Correa-Arrango was convicted in the U.S. Southern District Court
of Florida for attempting to procure AK-47 assault rifles and an M-60
machine gun for the AUC. On August 31, 2005, he was sentenced to 26
months imprisonment and 3 years supervised release.
- Assault Rifles to Colombia. Guillermo Cardoso-Arias
was convicted in the U.S. Southern District Court of Florida for
attempting to procure AK-47 assault rifles also for the AUC in Colombia.
On April 1, 2005, he was changed with illicit brokering and arms export
violations and sentenced to 46 months imprisonment and 3 years
supervised release.
- MANPADS for Terrorists. Hemant Lakhani, a British
national, was convicted in the U.S. District Court of New Jersey for
attempting to broker man-portable air-defense missile systems (MANPADS)
to persons thought to be terrorists. He was also charged with attempting
to provide material support to terrorists as well as unauthorized arms
brokering and money laundering changes. He was sentenced to a total of
47 years imprisonment on September 12, 2005.
- Jet Aircraft Engines and Missiles to China. Ko-Suen
Moo pled guilty to conspiracy to export jet aircraft engines and
missiles to the People’s Republic of China in violation of U.S. export
laws on May 17, 2006. His sentence is pending.
- Military Aircraft Parts and Electronics. Saeed
Homayouni was convicted in the U.S. Southern District Court of
California for conspiracy to broker the export of military aircraft
parts and electronics without authorization. He was sentenced to 24
months imprisonment.
- Military Night Vision Equipment to China
(indictment). Phillip Cheng was indicted for conspiracy to
violate the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) by
brokering the export and sale of military night-vision equipment to the
People’s Republic of China without authorization. His trial is scheduled
for August 2006 in the U.S. Northern District Court of
California.
End-use Monitoring
The United States also stresses
the importance of careful end-use monitoring. Ensuring that arms are
exported to the appropriate end-user and for their appropriate end-use
requires due diligence on the part of national export authorities and
cooperation from the importing nation as well. The United States conducts
pre-license and post-shipment checks on exports where there is a risk of
diversion, concerns about end-use/end-users, or due to the sensitivity of
the commodities – such as SA/LW. The extra steps required to do end-use checks
– a phone call,
an interview with an importer/end-user, a brief visit to inspect a
facility – can
mean the difference between unwittingly approving and thwarting an illicit
arms export. In the following cases, despite apparently complete
documentation on the license application, serious problems with SA/LW
exports were found, proving the utility of United States diligence in this
regard:
- A pre-license check on a shipment of firearms to a country in Asia
revealed that the company intended to re-export U.S.-origin firearms
without authorization from the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of
Defense Trade Controls (DDTC). The license was denied.
- A pre-license check on the proposed export of M-16 rifle parts to
another Asian country indicated that the company involved was not
authorized by its government to import such items. The license was
denied.
- A pre-license check on an application for 300 handguns to a private
company in Latin America confirmed the legitimacy of the private
company. Upon review of the proposed transaction, however, the host
government determined that the number of guns was excessive given the
high incidence of lost and stolen firearms involved in a recent surge in
violent crime. The quantity of guns on the license was subsequently
reduced.
- A pre-license check involving pistols to be exported to a Central
American country revealed that the end-user had been established as a
front company for another firearms retailer who was under investigation
by the local government for export violations. DDTC denied the license
and added both companies to its Watch list.
- During a check conducted on a North American arms retailer, the
proprietor of the company provided evasive responses to questions about
re-exporting U.S.-origin firearms and claimed a lack of knowledge of the
subject –
despite his being a retired customs officer. As a result, the license
was denied, the proprietor placed on the DDTC Watch list, and the
information was turned over to host government authorities for possible
further investigation.
To learn more about United States’ arms export control compliance and
enforcement, visit the website of the Directorate of Defense Trade
Controls in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military
Affairs at http://www.pmddtc.state.gov.
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