TUCSON, Arizona, March 12, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — A Utah man has been indicted along with a fellow South Sudan native for conspiring to purchase $4 million in arms from undercover agents to fund rebellion in their homeland.
The indictment from the U.S. Justice Department’s National Security Division charges Abraham Chol Keech, 44, of Utah, and Peter Biar Ajak, 40, of Maryland, “with conspiring to purchase and illegally export millions of dollars’ worth of fully automatic rifles, grenade launchers, Stinger missile systems, hand grenades, sniper rifles, ammunition, and other export-controlled items from the United States to South Sudan, in violation of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA).”
“As alleged, the defendants sought to unlawfully smuggle heavy weapons and ammunition from the United States into South Sudan – a country that is subject to a U.N. arms embargo due to the violence between armed groups, which has killed and displaced thousands,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen, according to the DOJ press release shared by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah.
The press release and court filings don’t detail where in Utah Keech resided, just referring to him as a naturalized U.S. citizen born in South Sudan. Investigation begun in February 2023 center on meetings between the defendants and undercover federal agents in the Phoenix area and defendants’ travels to the east coast of the U.S. and Africa.
Ajak is described as granted asylum to the U.S. as a former opposition leader in South Sudan, referring to himself as possibly its next prime minster upon the overthrow of the present regime.
Civil war broke out in in South Sudan in 2013, leading to a United Nations arms embargo of Sudan since 2018, according to the indictment unsealed March 5 in Arizona.
If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison for conspiring to violate the AECA, up to 20 years in prison for conspiring to violate the ECRA, and up to 10 years in prison for smuggling goods from the United States.
As part of the scheme, the DOJ said, defendants further sought to conceal from financial institutions and others the source and purpose of the funds used to purchase and smuggle the illicit arms.
“For example, the defendants agreed to an arms contract for nearly $4 million worth of weapons and related items and requested a fake contract in the same amount in ‘consulting services’ and items, such as ‘communications equipment,’ related to ‘human rights, humanitarian, and civil engagement inside South Sudan refugee camps.’ The defendants then caused funds to be transferred through an intermediary company identified in the fake contract to complete the purchase.”
The Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Defense’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division, and the Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement are investigating the case, with assistance provided by the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona and the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.
