A Kyrgyzstani has been detained in the U.S. on suspicion of illegal export of firearms. The website of the U.S. Department of Justice says.
It is specified that S.Zh. was detained in the U.S. on charges of illegally exporting firearms to Russia through Kyrgyzstan. The indictment was filed in the Federal Court in Brooklyn.
It is known that the citizen of Kyrgyzstan was detained on January 24, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was attending the Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show to meet with U.S. arms dealers.
According to U.S. Attorney John J. Durham, «the defendant operated a sophisticated scheme to circumvent export controls and to export semi-automatic firearms and send them to Russia».
According to investigators, since March 2020, S.Zh. has organized a scheme to supply American weapons to Russia, violating the restrictions of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
The defendant, the General Director and owner of an arms dealer located in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, entered into a five-year, $900,000 contract with a company located in Chesapeake, Virginia to purchase and export firearms to Kyrgyzstan. The license prohibited the export or re-export of the firearms to Russia.
Nevertheless, the defendant exported and re-exported firearms to Russia via Kyrgyzstan. In July 2022, the citizen of Kyrgyzstan conducted transactions for $67,000 between his companies and transferred more than $65,000 to an American company for the purchase of 25 semi-automatic rifles and pistols. The weapons were shipped from JFK Airport to Kyrgyzstan. In August 2022, S.Zh. received documents stating that the rifles were intended for Russian partners.In November 2022, the CEO of the Russian company confirmed the transaction to the EAEU tax authorities, indicating that the weapons were purchased in Kyrgyzstan, and the buyer was a Moscow company.
The investigation has documents confirming the illegal transactions, the statement says.
If the Kyrgyzstani is found guilty, he faces up to 30 years in prison.
