A Ghanaian living in the US as an army officer, Kojo Owusu Dartey, has been found guilty of multiple charges, including smuggling goods from the United States, unauthorized dealing in firearms, delivery of firearms without proper notice, illegal exportation of firearms, providing false statements to a U.S. agency, making deceptive declarations in court, and engaging in conspiracy.
Dartey faces a maximum penalty of 240 months when sentenced on July 23, 2024.
Court documents and evidence provided by the United States Attorney’s Office reveal that between June 28 and July 2, 2021, Dartey acquired seven firearms in the Fort Liberty region.
Furthermore, he enlisted the help of a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to procure three firearms and forward them to him in North Carolina.
Dartey is said to have hidden the firearms, including multiple handguns, an AR15, 50-round magazines, suppressors, and a combat shotgun, inside blue barrels underneath rice and household goods.
These barrels were smuggled out of the Port of Baltimore, Maryland, on a container ship destined for Ghana. The Ghana Revenue Authority seized the firearms and reported the seizure to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division.
Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, made the announcement after Chief U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II accepted the verdict. The ATF, Army Criminal Investigation Division and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gabriel J. Diaz prosecuted it with technical assistance from David Ryan, DOJ Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
“We are partnering with law enforcement agencies across the globe to expose international criminals – from money launderers to rogue international arms traffickers capable of fueling violence abroad,” said U.S Attorney Michael Easley.
“Through a partnership with Ghanaian officials, this rogue Army Major was convicted at trial after smuggling guns to Ghana in blue barrels of rice and household goods. I want to thank the Ghana Revenue Authority and the International Cooperation Unit Office of the Attorney-General of Ghana for their assistance in the investigation. I also commend the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) attachés to U.S. Embassy Accra and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs of the Department’s Criminal Division for their significant assistance to this prosecution.”
“Far from being a victimless crime, firearms trafficking threatens public safety across our nation and beyond,” said Toni M. Crosby, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Baltimore Field Division.
“The Baltimore Field Division is proud to partner with the Ghana Revenue Authority and ATF’s Charlotte and Louisville Field Divisions for this investigation, which has kept firearms off the streets — preventing them from being used in any number of killings and other crimes — and ended this international firearm trafficking scheme.”
In a surprising turn of events, it was discovered that Dartey lied on the stand about his sexual relationship with a defense witness while serving as a witness in the trial of U.S. v. Agyapong.
This trial involved a marriage fraud scheme between soldiers on Fort Liberty and foreign nationals from Ghana.