German National Sentenced For International Arms Trafficking

CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Karl Kleber, 64, of Lisbon, Portugal, who was convicted of smuggling goods into the United States, in connection with the importation into the United States of Chinese-manufactured, 75 round capacity, AK-47 rifle drum magazines, was sentenced to time served by U.S. District Judge Charles J. Siragusa. The defendant will also forfeit $345,600. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles E. Moynihan, who handled the case, stated that the defendant worked with co-defendant Gary Hyde to import into the United States over 5,000 Chinese-manufactured, 75 round capacity AK-47 rifle drum magazines from between in or about March of 2008 until October of 2008. Further, Kleber and Hyde negotiated a deal with a Chinese firearms manufacturer to make the magazines, while representing that they were manufactured in Bulgaria. Between January and March of 2008, the defendant offered them for sale to American Tactical Imports, Inc. in Rochester, while knowing that the magazines could not be imported into the United States because they were manufactured in China. The magazines were then sold to American Tactical Imports, Inc.

Gary Hyde was previously convicted and sentenced.

The sentencing is the culmination of an investigation on the part of Homeland Security Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Kelly, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Ashan Benedict, New York Field Division. 

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