WASHINGTON
\nTwo men have been charged with violating export controls for allegedly conspiring to send millions of dollars of weapons to South Sudan, the Justice Department said Tuesday.
\nThe pair allegedly sought to send rifles, grenade launchers, Stinger missile systems, hand grenades and ammunition to South Sudan, the department said in a statement.
\nThe defendants, Abraham Chol Keech of Utah and Peter Biar Ajak of Maryland, \u201csought to unlawfully smuggle heavy weapons and ammunition from the United States into South Sudan,\u201d Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said.
\nSouth Sudan \u201cis subject to a UN arms embargo due to the violence between armed groups, which has killed and displaced thousands,\u201d he added.
\nAccording to the criminal complaint, between February 2023 and February 2024 the pair sought to illegally buy weapons from undercover law enforcement agents and smuggle them to South Sudan through a third country.
\nThey allegedly tried to disguise an arms contract for nearly $4 million as a contract for humanitarian assistance.
\nKeech and Ajak face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of violating the Arms Export Control Act and up to 20 years if convicted of violating the Export Control Reform Act.
\nThey also face up to 10 years in prison for smuggling goods from the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON Two men have been charged with violating export controls for allegedly conspiring to send millions of dollars of weapons to South Sudan, the Justice Department said Tuesday. The pair allegedly sought to send rifles, grenade launchers, Stinger missile systems, hand grenades and ammunition to South Sudan, the department said in a statement. The defendants, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-391744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n