UK citizen and former U.S. Marine Steven Greenoe (pictured right) pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of violating the Arms Export Control Act and one count of filing a false ATF form in connection with his unlicensed exports of more than 60 guns from the United States to the United Kingdom. Greenoe packed the weapons in suitcases that he took with him on ten flights from the United States.

The most interesting aspect of the case is how easily Greenoe was able to ship these guns in his luggage. The guns were disassembled and scattered throughout his suitcases. During a trip last May to Atlanta, where Greenoe was catching a connecting flight to Manchester, scanners detected the gun parts when Greenoe checked his luggage in Raleigh-Durham. Somehow or other he convinced TSA agents that he was a firearms salesman and that the parts were non-working “engineering samples.” He was then allowed to board his flight to Atlanta and then to continue on to Manchester with the guns in his luggage.

An investigation into a cache of guns recovered by British police ultimately led British authorities to Greenoe. Greenoe was arrested at the Raleigh airport in July after a tip-off from British police. Greenoe apparently told U.S. investigators that he was a security consultant and that these guns were for his employees working in pirate-infested waters off the coast of Somalia. Even were this colorful explanation true, it would not justify failing to obtain an export license for the guns.

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