Filipinos including customs officer convicted over illegal arms to Mexican drug barons
(03-05 11:12)
Three Filipinos face lengthy prison sentences after being convicted of illegally importing military grade weapons into the United States, justice officials said.
The three men – Sergio Syjuco, 26, Cesar Ubaldo, 27, and Arjyl Revereza, 26 – are to be sentenced in June after being convicted by a federal court in California, a statement said, AFP reports.
The trio was caught following a 2010 sting where an FBI agent posed as an arms dealer seeking to funnel weapons to a Mexican drugs cartel. Syjuco eventually supplied the weapons – which included assault rifles, grenade launchers, a mortar and state-of-the-art body armor – while Revereza, an officer in the Philippines Bureau of Customs, helped facilitate the shipment into the United States, a justice department statement said.
The weapons shipment was tracked until its arrival in Long Beach, California, in June 2011 where it was seized.
Syjuco, Ubaldo and Revereza could face up to 20 years in prison and fines of more than US$1 million for their roles in the plot when they are sentenced on June 10, a statement said.
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