Attempt to smuggle 85 Sako rifles to Belarus

[Marnoot]

So this story was in the local news:

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=37616990&nid=148&title=indictment-man-tried-to-purchase-smuggle-sniper-rifles-to-belarus&s_cid=queue-5

I'm just curious to understand the "why" here. I know next to little about Belarus, other than it's a com-bloc country with a somewhat authoritarian leader, and we have an apparent arms embargo on them.

Why would a UAE citizen be trying to smuggle 85 .308 bolt-action¹ rifles to Belarus? Who would be the buyer? Organized crime? Belarusian military?


¹ I presume. The article picture shows an AR-pattern rifle, but AFAIK Sakos are all bolt-action, no?

[Scout26]

AFAIK, All Sako's are bolt action.  And made in Finland.  Seems like it's a roundabout way to get guns from Finland into Belarus.

Or perhaps I'm missing something?

[brimic]

A Sako 85 is sort of the european equivalent of a Winchester model 70- its a really nice hunting rifle.

Its a great thing they are finally getting around to going after gun smugglers, maybe obama, holder, and the ATF are next on the prosecution list.

[Hawkmoon]

An undercover agent from Homeland Security Investigations reached out by email to the individual, who again expressed a desire to buy the guns. Negotiations continued until May 2015 but didn't result in a sale until the individual introduced the agent to Rahman.

Aware of the embargo, Rahman then negotiated with the agent to purchase 89 sniper rifles, arranging to purchase the first 10 and ammunition for them for approximately $66,285, according to the indictment.

In other words -- entrapment.

If the BATFE had just stayed out of it, probably nothing would have happened.

Some days I dislike my government very much. The rest of the time I just hate them.

[Marnoot]

A Sako 85 is sort of the european equivalent of a Winchester model 70- its a really nice hunting rifle.

It wasn't a Sako 85 per se, it was 85 x Sako ______s. They don't specify the model in the article, unfortunately.

In other words -- entrapment.

Eh, I'd have to see the communications to have an opinion. If they emailed the guy and said "hey, heard you wanted to smuggle some guns!" and he replied "hells yeah!" and they went from there, you may disagree with the methods and use of resources and probably rightfully believe they'd not have managed to successfully smuggle any, but it doesn't meet the requirements for entrapment, IMO.

[BobR]

It must be EBRs, after all the article has that as the picture heading the article.   


bob