Pair of Arms Dealers Charged With Conspiring to Illicitly Export Munitions to Sudan, Iraq

Two officials of an Iraq-based weapons dealer -- Syrian national Mohamad Deiry and Lebanese national Samer Rayya -- were charged with conspiring to ship munitions from the U.S. to Sudan and Iraq without a license, DOJ announced. An indictment, unsealed April 15, alleged the pair violated the Arms Export Control Act and conspired to commit money laundering to advance the "illicit procurement activities."

Both men "remain at large" and have "ties to or may visit Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Russia, Belarus, Sudan and Libya," DOJ said. Concurrent with the criminal charges against Deiry and Rayya, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Rayya and Black Shield -- the Iraq-based arms company of which the two men are principals -- along with other parties involved in the munitions procurement scheme used by the two men.

From April to November 2016, Deiry, Rayya and others allegedly conspired to export various munitions types, "including 23-millimeter antiaircraft ammunition, Bushmaster 40mm Grenade Launchers, FN SCAR-L CQC (5.56x45mm) assault rifles, FN SCAR-H CQC (7.62x51mm) assault rifles, FNH 5.7x28mm green tip ammunition and HK MR762A1 LRP ii (7.62x51mm) assault rifles," to Sudan and Iraq, DOJ said.

The goods allegedly were transshipped from the U.S. to Guatemala and then to "false end-users in Cyprus before arriving in Sudan and Iraq." Black Shield allegedly wired a $100,000 down payment for the shipments from a West African front company.