A federal grand jury convicted a Fort Liberty Army Major for smuggling guns in rice barrels to Ghana, according to U.S. Attorney Michael Easley.
Kojo Owusu Dartey, a 42-year-old Army Major assigned to Fort Liberty, was convicted by a federal jury on charges that include 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.
According to court records and evidence presented at the trial, Dartey purchased a total of 10 firearms, including handguns, an AR15, 50-round magazines, suppressors, and a combat shotgun, between June 28 and July 2, 2021. He then hid these firearms inside blue barrels filled with rice and household goods and smuggled them out of the Port of Baltimore, Maryland, on a container ship to 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.
The Ghana Revenue Authority recovered the firearms and reported the seizure to the DEA attaché 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. This case involved a 16-defendant marriage fraud scheme between soldiers on Fort Liberty and foreign nationals from Ghana that Dartey had tipped off officials to.
Easley said in preparation for the trial, Dartey lied to federal law enforcement about his sexual relationship with a defense witness and lied on the stand and under oath about the relationship.
Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II accepted the jury’s guilty verdict. Dartey will be sentenced on July 23 and faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
The ATF, Army Criminal Investigation Division and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gabriel J. Diaz prosecuted the case with technical assistance from David Ryan, DOJ Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
