Kojo Owusu Dartey
A Fort Liberty Army Major from the United States, Kojo Owusu Dartey, has been found guilty of smuggling guns into Ghana in barrels of rice and household items.
The 42-year-old convict was found guilty of smuggling goods from the United States, dealing in firearms without a license, delivering firearms without notice to the carrier, illegally exporting firearms without a license, making false statements to a US agency, making false declarations in court, and conspiracy.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) stated that Dartey, who will be sentenced on July 23, 2024 could face up to 20 years in jail.
Court documents and evidence show that Dartey bought seven firearms in the Fort Liberty area between June 28 and July 2, 2021.
According to the DoJ, he allegedly requested that a US Army Staff Sergeant at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, acquire three firearms and send them to him in North Carolina.
The DoJ disclosed that, “Dartey then hid all the firearms,” which included “multiple handguns, an AR15, 50-round magazines, suppressors and a combat shotgun” inside blue barrels underneath rice and household goods and smuggled the barrels out of the Port of Baltimore, Maryland, on a container ship to Ghana.
“We are partnering with law enforcement agencies across the globe to expose international criminals – from money launderers to rogue international arms traffickers capable of fueling violence abroad,” said US Attorney Michael Easley.
“Through a partnership with Ghanaian officials, this rogue Army Major was convicted at trial after smuggling guns to Ghana in blue barrels of rice and household goods.
“I want to thank the Ghana Revenue Authority and the International Cooperation Unit Office of the Attorney-General of Ghana for their assistance in the investigation. I also commend the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) attachés to US Embassy Accra and the US Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs of the Department’s Criminal Division for their significant assistance to this prosecution.
“Far from being a victimless crime, firearms trafficking threatens public safety across our nation and beyond,” said Toni M. Crosby, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Baltimore Field Division.
“The Baltimore Field Division is proud to partner with the Ghana Revenue Authority and ATF’s Charlotte and Louisville Field Divisions for this investigation, which has kept firearms off the streets – preventing them from being used in any number of killings and other crimes – and ended this international firearm trafficking scheme,” he stated.
The Ghana Revenue Authority recovered the firearms and reported the seizure to the DEA attaché in Ghana and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division.
At the same time, Dartey was a witness in the trial of US v. Agyapong.
A case that involved a 16-defendant marriage fraud scheme between soldiers on Fort Liberty and foreign nationals from Ghana that Dartey had tipped off officials to.
In preparation for the trial, Dartey lied to federal law enforcement about his sexual relationship with a defence witness and lied on the stand and under oath about the relationship.
Michael Easley, US Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, announced after Chief US District Judge Richard E. Myers II accepted the verdict.
The ATF, Army Criminal Investigation Division and the US Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement investigated the case.
Assistant US Attorney Gabriel J. Diaz prosecuted it with technical assistance from David Ryan, DOJ Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
A Daily Guide Report