A U.S. Army Major has been convicted on multiple charges stemming from the illegal smuggling of firearms to Ghana.
Kojo Owusu Dartey, a 42-year-old Major stationed at Fort Liberty, was found guilty by a federal jury. The charges include dealing firearms without a license, delivering firearms without proper notice to carriers, smuggling goods from the United States, and unlawfully exporting firearms.
Evidence presented at trial, including court records, revealed Dartey’s purchase of 10 firearms, including handguns, an AR15, 50-round magazines, suppressors, and a combat shotgun, between June 28 and July 2, 2021. He concealed these firearms within blue barrels filled with rice and household items, smuggling them out of the Port of Baltimore, Maryland, aboard a container ship bound for the Port of Tema in Ghana.
“Far from being a victimless crime, firearms trafficking threatens public safety across our nation and beyond,” said Toni M. Crosby, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Baltimore Field Division. “The Baltimore Field Division is proud to partner with the Ghana Revenue Authority and ATF’s Charlotte and Louisville Field Divisions for this investigation, which has kept firearms off the streets — preventing them from being used in any number of killings and other crimes — and ended this international firearm trafficking scheme.”
The Ghana Revenue Authority recovered the firearms and reported the seizure to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) attaché in Ghana and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division.
In addition to the firearms charges, Dartey was also charged with making false statements to a U.S. agency, making false declarations before the court, and conspiracy.
He faces a maximum penalty of 240 months when sentenced on July 23, 2024.
“We are partnering with law enforcement agencies across the globe to expose international criminals – from money launderers to rogue international arms traffickers capable of fueling violence abroad,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley. “Through 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.”
The investigation was conducted by the ATF, Army Criminal Investigation Division, and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement, with assistance from the Ghana Revenue Authority and the International Cooperation Unit Office of the Attorney-General of Ghana.”
