Overview
- Prosecutors said five people have pleaded guilty and eight others were indicted in a coordinated takedown of an international gun-trafficking ring.
- Investigators say the group recruited buyers in Keene, New Hampshire, and Dummerston, Vermont to make straw purchases at licensed dealers, meaning they bought guns for others to hide the true buyer or skirt ownership bans.
- Authorities have linked about 51 firearms to the network, and several were later found at Canadian crime scenes connected to kidnapping and attempted murder cases.
- Federal officials said many sales happened at American Trikes and Motorsports in Keene, and a store employee admitted leaving notes on suspected traffickers’ cars that read, “ATF is watching you.”
- The route allegedly moved guns through New York using corridors tied to the Akwesasne reservation, and ATF, Homeland Security Investigations, Commerce export agents, and Mohawk tribal police say the cross-border probe remains active.