Former Trinidad bike owner Varun Maharajh has been sentenced to seven years in a US jail for smuggling firearms abroad and possessing firearms as an illegal alien.
The US Department of Justice stated Maharjh pleaded responsible to the fees on March 21, 2024.
The court docket additionally ordered Maharajh to forfeit the firearms and ammunition seized within the case.
In accordance with court docket paperwork, on June 28, 2022, Maharajh shipped a parcel to London containing a microwave with 5 hid pistols inside. The bundle contained a Taurus G2C pistol, a Glock 17 Gen 5 pistol, two Glock 19 Gen 5 pistols, and 59 rounds of 9 mm ammunition. The serial numbers have been obliterated on the firearms and Maharajh used a pretend title, “Kelvin Singh,” to ship the bundle.
On July 18, 2022, Maharajh dropped off a bundle at a freight forwarding firm in Miami. The bundle was addressed to Trinidad and Tobago and Maharajh labored with an middleman who stuffed out the paperwork.
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In accordance with the discharge, the bundle contained a tent with two AK-47 type firearms hid inside its folds together with a microwave containing pistols.
US officers stated whereas Maharajh labored with one other particular person, he did present a pretend ID with the title “Kelvin Singh” to the freight forwarding firm when he dropped off the bundle.
Maharajh was arrested in Indian River County on November 19, 2023, and engaged in a high-speed chase on I-95 earlier than totaling his car and trying to flee on foot.
Maharjh is believed to have entered america in 2020 and stayed with out authorized standing. Maharajh was beforehand a World Cup bike owner for Trinidad and Tobago and certified for the Olympics in 2016.
United States Ambassador Candace Bond stated: “This newest conviction represents the dedication of United States regulation enforcement businesses to collaborate with their Trinidad and Tobago counterparts, together with the Transnational Organized Crime Unit of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service to arrest, prosecute, and disrupt illicit weapons trafficking networks from america.”
