3 Charged With Attempting to Illegally Export Arms to Nigeria

Maryland residents Wilson Nuyila Tita of Owings Mills, Eric Fru Nji of Fort Washington and Wilson Che Fonguh of Bowie were charged Aug. 27 in a federal indictment at the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland with conspiracty to violate the Arms Export Control Act and the Export Reform Control Act, the Department of Justice said. The three allegedly shipped firearms and ammunition from the U.S. to Nigeria, violating export restrictions.

From November 2017 to July 2019, the trio conspired with others to export the weapons identified on the U.S. Munitions List and the Commerce Control List without getting a license, the DOJ press release said. The three sought to export firearms, ammunition, reloading materials, rifle scopes and other equipment, and attempted to do so by concealing them in heavily wrapped packages and duffel bags and inside sealed compressor units, DOJ said. They allegedly placed those items into a shipping container heading for Nigeria, DOJ said. This process also involved the falsifying of export information to the U.S.