Overview
- U.S. prosecutors, who announced the case Thursday, said five people have pleaded guilty and eight others are now indicted in the alleged scheme.
- Investigators identified about 51 guns moved into Canada through Vermont and the Akwesasne reservation, a border area the indictment calls a known smuggling corridor.
- The conspiracy ran from July 2021 to at least October 2024 and used “straw purchases,” where buyers in Keene, New Hampshire, and Dummerston, Vermont, bought guns for people barred from owning them, with many buys at American Trikes and Motorsports in Keene, officials said.
- Several of the trafficked guns turned up at Canadian crime scenes, including a Montreal case that involved kidnapping and attempted murder, underscoring how U.S. retail sales can fuel violent crime across the border.
- Four Akwesasne residents were taken into custody this week as others remain fugitives, and ATF, HSI, tribal police, and Canadian partners say the investigation is ongoing as they work to identify the recipient networks in Canada.