{"id":177023,"date":"2024-04-30T14:14:06","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T14:14:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/"},"modified":"2024-04-30T14:14:06","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T14:14:06","slug":"us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/","title":{"rendered":"US Army Major convicted for smuggling guns to Ghana in barrels of rice and home goods"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A United States Army Major, Kojo Owusu Dartey, currently assigned to Fort Liberty, has been found guilty by a federal jury on multiple charges of dealing in firearms without a license, delivering firearms without notice to the carrier, smuggling goods from the United States and illegally exporting firearms without a license.<\/p>\n<p>He was also charged with making false statements to an agency of the United States, making false declarations before the court, and conspiracy. Owusu Dartey, age 42, faces a maximum penalty of 240 months when sentenced on July 23, 2024.<\/p>\n<p>The firearms which were concealed within blue barrels of rice and household goods were smuggled to Ghana.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are partnering with law enforcement agencies across the globe to expose international criminals \u2013 from money launderers to rogue international arms traffickers capable of fueling violence abroad,\u201d said U.S Attorney Michael Easley.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough 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.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1043104\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/guns-in-drum.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"959\" height=\"1279\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI 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) attach\u00e9s to U.S. Embassy Accra and the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s Office of International Affairs of the Department\u2019s Criminal Division for their significant assistance to this prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFar from being a victimless crime, firearms trafficking threatens public safety across our nation and beyond,\u201d said Toni M. Crosby, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Baltimore Field Division. \u201cThe Baltimore Field Division is proud to partner with the Ghana Revenue Authority and ATF\u2019s Charlotte and Louisville Field Divisions for this investigation, which has kept firearms off the streets \u2014 preventing them from being used in any number of killings and other crimes \u2014 and ended this international firearm trafficking scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to court records and evidence presented at trial, between June 28 and July 2, 2021, Dartey purchased seven firearms in the Fort Liberty area and tasked a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to purchase three firearms there and send them to Dartey in North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>Dartey then hid all the firearms, including 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 the Port of Tema in Ghana.<\/p>\n<p>The Ghana Revenue Authority recovered the firearms and reported the seizure to the DEA attach\u00e9 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 U.S. v. Agyapong.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, announced after Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II accepted the verdict.<\/p>\n<p>The ATF, Army Criminal Investigation Division and the U.S. Department of Commerce\u2019s Office of Export Enforcement investigated the case.<\/p>\n<p>Assistant U.S. Attorney Gabriel J. Diaz prosecuted it with technical assistance from David Ryan, DOJ Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A United States Army Major, Kojo Owusu Dartey, currently assigned to Fort Liberty, has been found guilty by a federal jury on multiple charges of dealing in firearms without a license, delivering firearms without notice to the carrier, smuggling goods from the United States and illegally exporting firearms without a license. He was also charged [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":177024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-177023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>US Army Major convicted for smuggling guns to Ghana in barrels of rice and home goods - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US Army Major convicted for smuggling guns to Ghana in barrels of rice and home goods - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A United States Army Major, Kojo Owusu Dartey, currently assigned to Fort Liberty, has been found guilty by a federal jury on multiple charges of dealing in firearms without a license, delivering firearms without notice to the carrier, smuggling goods from the United States and illegally exporting firearms without a license. He was also charged [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-30T14:14:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ghana News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/30\\\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/30\\\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"headline\":\"US Army Major convicted for smuggling guns to Ghana in barrels of rice and home goods\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-30T14:14:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/30\\\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":598,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/30\\\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/30\\\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/30\\\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/30\\\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\\\/\",\"name\":\"US Army Major convicted for smuggling guns to Ghana in barrels of rice and home goods - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/30\\\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/30\\\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-30T14:14:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/30\\\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/30\\\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/30\\\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/04\\\/30\\\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"US Army Major convicted for smuggling guns to Ghana in barrels of rice and home goods\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5\",\"name\":\"Ghana News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ghana News\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ghanamma.com\\\/2024\\\/author\\\/ghanamma\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"US Army Major convicted for smuggling guns to Ghana in barrels of rice and home goods - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"US Army Major convicted for smuggling guns to Ghana in barrels of rice and home goods - Ghanamma.com","og_description":"A United States Army Major, Kojo Owusu Dartey, currently assigned to Fort Liberty, has been found guilty by a federal jury on multiple charges of dealing in firearms without a license, delivering firearms without notice to the carrier, smuggling goods from the United States and illegally exporting firearms without a license. He was also charged [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/","og_site_name":"Ghanamma.com","article_published_time":"2024-04-30T14:14:06+00:00","author":"Ghana News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ghana News","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/"},"author":{"name":"Ghana News","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"headline":"US Army Major convicted for smuggling guns to Ghana in barrels of rice and home goods","datePublished":"2024-04-30T14:14:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/"},"wordCount":598,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","articleSection":["Local News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/","name":"US Army Major convicted for smuggling guns to Ghana in barrels of rice and home goods - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"","datePublished":"2024-04-30T14:14:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/#primaryimage","url":"","contentUrl":""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/04\/30\/us-army-major-convicted-for-smuggling-guns-to-ghana-in-barrels-of-rice-and-home-goods\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"US Army Major convicted for smuggling guns to Ghana in barrels of rice and home goods"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"Ghana mma provides breaking news, top stories in Ghana, Africa, business, entertainment, politics and more.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/#\/schema\/person\/c70749f3edfbfcd92d45e933f0fe10b5","name":"Ghana News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/22cb97c2b08df229330efb2b8c2645feaae8d3ca3ee434035fbb668b5b82f570?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ghana News"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024"],"url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/author\/ghanamma\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177023\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}