Last week Emenike Charles Nwankwoala, a 49-year-old resident of Laurel, Maryland, pleaded guilty to charges that he exported shotguns, pistols and ammunition to Nigeria without a license. According to the press release from Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), Nwankwoala had been exporting these items for ten years to Nigeria concealed in shipping containers with automobiles, hospital beds, home furnishings and the like. For at least part of this period, he was employed as a probation officer.

The investigation appeared to have started after Nwankwoala got a little chatty with an undercover ICE agent in May 2009. ICE had likely been tipped off to Nwankwoala’s side business by one of the firearms dealers that sold him the weapons, although the press release doesn’t indicate that. Thereafter, ICE detained one of Nwankwoala’s shipping containers and found the contraband goodies concealed inside.

Interestingly, Nwankwoala had previously applied for licenses from the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) for Mossberg 500 and Maverick 88 shotguns of the type found in the container. (BIS licenses shotguns with barrel lengths of 18 inches or greater.) A license application by Nwankwoala for a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun for export to Nigeria for personal use was granted. A subsequent application in February 2009 for 45 Mossberg 500 and Maverick 88 shotguns to be used at a shooting range in Nigeria was denied when Nwankwoala could not provide documentation of the existence of these firing ranges. Why Nwankwoala had a sudden crise de conscience and began applying for licenses rather than just stuffing them into the trunks of cars in shipping containers is not clear.

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