MALLOW GUN SMUGGLING PLOT FOILED BY GARDAÍ
GARDAI AND US AUTHORITIES TRACKED GUNS SENT TO MALLOW IN A ‘CONTROLLED DELIVERY’
A Garda investigation into the delivery of two handguns to addresses in North Cork helped lead to the arrest and jailing of an American gun-runner who was supplying weapons internationally through the dark net.
Michael Andrew Ryan (36) from Manhattan, Kansas was sentenced to 52 months in jail by a court in Kansas after he pleaded guilty to several counts of gun-running to Ireland as well as to a number of other countries.
Ryan, also known as Brad Jones and ‘Gunrunner’, was identified by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (AFT) following work by gardai in Cork assisted by Customs officers who made a controlled delivery of two handguns and ammunition to addresses in Mallow.
A GARDA investigation into the delivery of two handguns to addresses in North Cork helped lead to the arrest and jailing of an American gun runner who was supplying weapons internationally through the dark net.
Michael Andrew Ryan (36) from Manhattan, Kansas was sentenced to 52 months in jail by a court in Kansas after he pleaded guilty to several counts of gun running to Ireland as well as to a number of other countries.
Ryan, also known as Brad Jones and ‘Gunrunner’, was identified by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (AFT) following work by gardai in Cork assisted by Customs officers who made a controlled delivery of two handguns and ammunition to addresses in Mallow.
The serial numbers had been removed from the two Glock pistols but garda forensic and ballistic experts were able to establish the original serial numbers, which gardai in Cork then supplied to the AFT in the US, who traced the guns to Ryan.
Ryan pleaded guilty in a Kansas court last year to sending or trying to send a Glock model 27, .40 calibre pistol, a Glock model 22, .40 calibre pistol, a nine-round magazine for a .40 calibre Glock, a 10-round magazine for a .40 calibre Glock; and 10 rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Ryan also pleaded guilty to sending a Beretta 9mm pistol, a Taurus .38 Special revolver, a 15-round 9mm magazine, 32 rounds of 9mm ammunition; one round of .380 ammunition and 41 rounds of .40 calibre ammunition to addresses in Cork city.
Ryan had bought the Glocks which he sent to Mallow in the name Allison Mitchell while he bought the Beretta and Taurus guns destined for Cork in the name of Marlo Martin before removing their serial numbers.
He then dismantled the guns and concealed them in packages of Mexican statues which he then sent to Ireland using Fedex - only for the gardai and Irish customs to seize the weapons which gardai suspect had been ordered by Irish criminals.
Gardai believe the guns were ordered on the dark net or overlay network that can only be accessed with specific software and were sent to people who were unaware of the actual contents of the packages addressed to them.
The offences were detected by gardai in 2013 but it took two years for the US investigation to uncover Ryan as the gun smuggler. He pleaded guilty to a total of 18 offences when he was charged in 2015 and was sentenced just last month to four and a quarter years in jail for the offences.
Among the offences that Ryan admitted were knowingly making false statements to licensed firearms dealers, possession of firearms from which the manufacturer’s serial numbers had been removed, altered and obliterated.
Ryan also admitted exporting and/ or attempting to export these firearms in different packages from the United States to individuals located in Mallow and Cork as well as Pinner, England, Edinburgh, Scotland and Victoria, Australia.
In connection with his plea, Ryan admitted that he used a hidden internet marketplace website that sold illegal drugs and other illegal goods to unlawfully export or attempt to export firearms from the United States to Mallow and Cork as well as the other locations.
When Ryan first admitted his guilt in June 2016, Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell, of the US Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said that Ryan’s trade had been global and executed with apparent ease.
“With a computer and an internet connection, Ryan hosted an international arms trafficking business on the dark web, peddling firearms and ammunition throughout the world,” added Mr Caldwell.
“Criminals of all stripes take advantage of technological advances to further their crimes and attempt to avoid identification and arrest. In this case, thanks to the hard work of the prosecutors and law enforcement officers involved, we were able to shut down dangerous criminal activity.”
In addition to jailing Ryan last month, US District Judge Daniel Crabtree of the District of Kansas ordered him to forfeit all firearms and ammunition seized by law enforcement during the investigation.
The US Dept of Justice said: “These goods included dozens of firearms, including pistols, revolvers, Uzis and Glocks, some from which the manufacturer’s serial numbers had been removed, altered or obliterated, as well as magazines and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.”