Professional Soldiers ® - NG SF soldier arrested and charged with gun smuggling to China

Professional Soldiers ® (http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/forums/index.php)

- The Early Bird (http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=45)

- - NG SF soldier arrested and charged with gun smuggling to China (http://www.professionalsoldiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38023)

NG SF soldier arrested and charged with gun smuggling to China

Quote:

A soldier with an elite National Guard unit has been arrested and charged with illegally smuggling sophisticated firearms - including assault rifles and pistols - from New York City to China.

Federal prosecutors say that Joseph Debose, a staff sergeant in a U.S. National Guard Special Forces Unit in North Carolina, was caught packing a loaded .45-caliber pistol and in possession of a dozen guns that he was allegedly planning to ship to China.

"Joseph Debose is a member of the special forces community," Brooklyn Assistant US Attorney Seth DuCharme told a federal judge earlier today.

"We've actually looked at the guns in China that were seized by Chinese customs officials and traced them back to Mr. Debose," DuCharme said, although the serial numbers of some weapons were defaced.

Experts say this international firearms smuggling case is extremely unusual, because it involves rare levels of cooperation between American law enforcement officials and authorities inside mainland China.

Chinese authorities are normally reticent to let information slip about their internal crime problems, but allowed US investigators to travel inside China to aid in the probe - where they worked alongside the anti-smuggling unit of the Shanghai police service.

DuCharme told the judge that the American special forces soldier teamed up with a Chinese national living illegally in the US, Zhifu Lin, who was arrested recently in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Lin was arraigned today in Brooklyn federal court before Magistrate Judge Robert Levy, who ordered him held on both weapons smuggling and immigration charges.

Lin was wanted already by Chinese law enforcement officials for smuggling high tech weapons into China, and an Interpol "Red Notice" had been issued for Lin some time ago, prosecutors said.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents joined forces with Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms investigators in New York City and learned that some of the weapons were shipped through intermediaries in Queens, New York, and hidden in cargo destined for China.

"The defendants in North Carolina and New York allegedly ran a pipeline of illegal firearms from the United States to China," said Loretta Lynch, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Customs officers in Shanghai, China, discovered a large cache of guns hidden in stereo speakers that had been shipped as freight from the US, officials said.

The gun smuggling operation utilized a number of other American seaports to send other secret shipments of guns overseas, DuCharme told the judge.

Lin's defense attorney, Ephraim Savitt, told the judge today that his client was pleading not guilty to the charges.

Firearms are highly controlled in China, where fears of armed insurrection in outlying regions among populations seeking greater autonomy runs high among central government officials.

It is unclear whether the smuggled arms could have been destined for criminal underworld gangs that are now proliferating in China, or were instead intended for an insurgency in China's west, where tensions between the majority Muslim population and Han Chinese authorities have led to past violent clashes.

mmaddux@nypost.com

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/b...SY4jcpS9pCew8I

"...caught packing a loaded .45-caliber pistol..." Is that illegal, in and of itself? That could be said about a number of us here. :rolleyes:

Given this anti-gun piece is out of NY, I will wait to hear the rest of the story.

Frankly, the Chinese were smuggling full-auto AKs into the US during the Clinton Administration, I cannot imagine it would be that difficult to get access to firearms there. Certainly easier than smuggling them in from the US.

TR

Quote:

Firearms are highly controlled in China, where fears of armed insurrection in outlying regions among populations seeking greater autonomy runs high among central government officials.

Damn, you mean our very own BAFE is helping a central government maintain control over the population of its own citizens. Oh wait, I think that is supposed to be in pink type face.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSB (Post 450203)

Damn, you mean our very own BAFE is helping a central government maintain control over the population of its own citizens.

The same exact thing went through my mind when I read the story.

Dont' believe that the guy in question is SF Qualified, BTW.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSB (Post 450203)

Damn, you mean our very own BAFE is helping a central government maintain control over the population of its own citizens. Oh wait, I think that is supposed to be in pink type face.

FWIW, I think it's quite appropriate that you didn't use pink.
:cool:
I almost misread this line in the article:

Quote:

Firearms are highly controlled in the U.S., where fears of armed insurrection in outlying regions among populations seeking greater autonomy runs high among central government officials.

Time for annual trip to the optometrist.

Like a couple of cases of AR's are gonna unseat the Chinese hammer? Something else going on maybe. The last line of the article is about as definitive as Harry Carey's (RIP) description of a Cubs' fly-ball. "It might be... it could be...."

Hmmm. Smuggling small arms into a country, infamous for its total disregard for basic human rights. In past administrations, this sentence would be known as a "mission statement". With the present jacklegs, it is part of an indictment.

Why do we give a damn to cooperate with a totalitarian regime like China? Do we really want to help out a government that forces Christian churches underground? Long-term prison sentences for ridiculous charges without any semblance of due process? Really?

When I was a younger man, I got to watch a great President stand on a border, and cry "tear down this wall". Today we have this. Disgusting.

Quote:

Originally Posted by abc_123 (Post 450224)

The same exact thing went through my mind when I read the story.

Dont' believe that the guy in question is SF Qualified, BTW.

It will be interesting to find out if your right,I hope your right..........:(:rolleyes:

Big Teddy :munchin

I agree that it's disgusting

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigepo (Post 450266)

Why do we give a damn to cooperate with a totalitarian regime like China?

Money.

Quote:

Originally Posted by triguy18e (Post 450376)

He is NOT tabbed.

Makes for a lot better story when everyone thinks the guy is SF.

"A soldier with an elite National Guard unit has been arrested and charged with illegally smuggling sophisticated firearms - including assault rifles and pistols - from New York City to China.

Federal prosecutors say that Joseph Debose, a staff sergeant in a U.S. National Guard Special Forces Unit in North Carolina, was caught packing a loaded .45-caliber pistol and in possession of a dozen guns that he was allegedly planning to ship to China.

"Joseph Debose is a member of the special forces community," Brooklyn Assistant US Attorney Seth DuCharme told a federal judge earlier today."

More arrests in Chinese gun smuggling involving Harnett County soldier

More arrests in Chinese gun smuggling involving Harnett County soldier

http://fayobserver.com/articles/2012...ac=fo.military

"Chinese police have arrested nearly two dozen people in connection with a gun-smuggling ring headed by a National Guard soldier from Harnett County, according to state-run media in China.

Twenty-three arrests were made in 16 provinces and led to the seizure of more than 100 weapons, a large number of gun parts, and more than 50,000 bullets........"

Rollin' 'um up. A Secret between two people is no Secret.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cbtengr (Post 450427)

Probably from the same North Carolina National Guard unit as "Special Forces" SGM John Letuli........:munchin