South Sudan Political Activist arrested in US for Attempting to Smuggle weapons

GOOBJOOG NEWS: A South Sudanese political activist based in the United States of America has been arrested for attempting to send weapons to his home country, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

The department said Dr. Peter Biar Ajak allegedly sought to send rifles, grenade launchers, Stinger missile systems, hand grenades and ammunition to South Sudan.

He was arrested alongside a fellow political activist, Abraham Chol Keech.

The defendants, Peter Biar Ajak of Maryland and Abraham Chol Keech of Utah, “sought to unlawfully smuggle heavy weapons and ammunition from the United States into South Sudan,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said.

The UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo on South Sudan in a bid to slow down the war that had erupted in 2016 – hence declaring illegal any export of arms of any type to the country.

Importation of arms to South Sudan is also banned under two other laws in the United States – the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and the Export Control Reform Act (ECRA).

The war ended in 2018 following a peace deal between President Salva Kiir and various armed groups. But the embargo, imposed in 2018, was only recently extended to May this year.

According to the criminal complaint, between February 2023 and February 2024 the pair sought to illegally buy weapons from undercover law enforcement agents and smuggle them to South Sudan through a third country.

They allegedly tried to disguise an arms contract for nearly $4 million as a contract for humanitarian assistance.

Ajak and Akeech face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of violating the Arms Export Control Act and up to 20 years if convicted of violating the Export Control Reform Act.