Posted on 05/26/2010 6:08:29 PM PDT by NavyCanDo
SEATTLE -- There are more questions than answers in the case of a suspected international arms dealer caught in Washington state with a stockpile of sniper rifles.
Oliver King is an Iranian citizen who, in the past, has been a licensed gun dealer. King appeared in court in Seattle on Wednesday, accused of keeping a stash of guns and ammunition hidden in a storage unit near the U.S.-Canada border.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, King lied to enter the U.S. near Blaine last week. Agents with U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement became suspicious of King when he showed up at the border with a brand new passport, and a story about picking up his wife at Bellis Fair Shopping Mall in Bellingham.
Upon searching his car, agents found King's original passport, which has three visas for Iran and lists King's name as Hamid Malekpour.
At King's storage locker in Ferndale, agents found $30,000 worth of police-grade sniper rifles, handguns and ammunition.
(Excerpt) Read more at komonews.com ...
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_gun_dealer_charged.html
"Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tailed King as he left the border crossing. He drove to McMinnville, Ore., where he went to a gun shop and loaded his car with four guns and 480 rounds of .50-caliber ammunition.
Agents say he then drove north to the Ferndale storage unit, where he had $30,000 worth of sniper rifles, handguns and ammo.
When asked about the weapons in his car, King said he was a hunter, according to the complaint."
Weird...
I imagine he’ll scream “racial profiling” and the judge will let the maggot go.
Another camel humping terrorist, I reckon.
Why does a member of the Religion of Peace need so many sniper rifles anyway?
I certainly hope the Feds confiscated the guns and ammo.
This guy is dirty:
Canadian gun dealer who obtained weapons in McMinnville arrested after feds find ammo
By The Associated Press
May 20, 2010, 7:47PM US Federal agents have arrested a Canadian gun dealer who kept a stash of sniper rifles and ammunition at a Washington storage unit near the U.S. northern border.
The man had recently picked up four weapons and 480 rounds of .50-caliber ammunition from a gun shop in McMinnville.
Oliver King — who also uses his given name, Hamid Malekpour — was arrested Wednesday in Ferndale, which is about 10 miles south of the Canadian border.
He made an initial appearance today at U.S. District Court in Seattle on charges of making false statements to a government agency and being an alien in possession of firearms.
A hearing was set for next Wednesday to determine whether he should continue to be detained pending trial. According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, he entered the U.S. at Blaine the previous night and lied when he said he was going to pick up his wife at a Bellingham mall.
The Iranian native also lied about why he had a new Canadian passport just issued that morning, the complaint said. He told border guards that his old one had gone through the wash, but agents found it during a secondary inspection — with no water damage. The old one, which was not set to expire until 2013, had been canceled, but it was not immediately clear why.
It had three visas for Iran, two issued last year and one issued this year. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tailed King as he left the border crossing. He drove to McMinnville, where he went to a gun shop and loaded his car with the guns and high-caliber ammunition. Agents say he then drove north to the Ferndale storage unit, where he had $30,000 worth of sniper rifles, handguns and ammo.
When asked about the weapons in his car, King said he was a hunter, according to the complaint.
Amir Zarandi, who owns McMinnville Hunting and Police Supplies, said King is a consultant and has bought weapons there for years. Zarandi said King also manufactures ammunition, is well known in the business and “doesn’t do anything illegal.” “He’s a good person,” Zarandi said. “I’m sure this is just a technicality sort of thing.”
According to the complaint, King was a licensed firearms dealer in Canada under his other name. The license was temporarily suspended when the Canadian government discovered he was selling guns over the Internet, but apparently the license has been “recovered” and may be valid.
Are police-grade sniper rifles more deadly than assault weapons or High-powered rifles?
Dirtier and dirtier:
The crack ATF didn’t know gun store existed!!!!
“MCMINNVILLE, Ore. - Federal agents say an Iranian citizen lied to get across the U.S.-Canadian border and then stashed weapons near the border after transporting them from McMinnville, according to a court document.
Agents said last Tuesday night Oliver King crossed the border on a false passport telling customs he had to “pick up his wife at the Target store.” But agents followed him down Interstate 5 to McMinnville, watched him pull up to an office building he leases which is a gun shop, load up boxes and drive back to Ferndale, Wash.
There in a storage unit, agents said they found a stash of $30,000 worth of law enforcement grade sniper rifles, handguns and ammunition. And on the boxes were shipping labels to “McMinnville, Oregon”.
Salem resident David Cross - not the ATF or customs agents - alerted various local police agencies after he saw an Associated Press story about the arrest of King.
“It troubled me in a post 9/11 world that a Canadian national could buy guns in McMinnville, Ore., and I looked at this and said, ‘uh oh, I wonder if our local state and county law enforcement officials have been contacted about this,” Cross said.
The local agencies said they didn’t know the McMinnville Hunting and Police Supplies gun shop existed.
The landlord said King signed a five-year lease last year but neighboring tenants have only seen a man twice, including last week.
A sign tacked onto a door says boxes are to be left down the hall with a real estate agent with Premier Northwest Real Estate. The real estate agent refused to comment.
Court records say King’s real name is Hamid Malekpour.
When confronted agents said King claimed to be a hunter but his guns and ammunition are not what a hunter would use.”
The court document says King claimed to have a hunting license from North Dakota but it was just an image of an expired one. He did get a Canadian hunting license the same morning along with his new passport.
He reportedly told agents his was damaged in the wash but agents said they found it and it was just fine.
King has three visas for Iran, two from last year, and another from six weeks ago.
The gun shop is owned by someone else who the AP identifies as Amir Zarandi. But the gun shop is not listed on state or ATF records.
The landlord said he knows nothing about him other than he might be a California associate.
The Seattle PI story:
SEATTLE — Federal agents said Thursday they have arrested a Canadian gun dealer who kept a stash of sniper rifles and ammunition at a Washington storage unit near the U.S. northern border.
Oliver King - who also uses his given name, Hamid Malekpour - was arrested Wednesday in Ferndale, which is about 10 miles south of the Canadian border. He made an initial appearance Thursday at U.S. District Court in Seattle on charges of making false statements to a government agency and being an alien in possession of firearms.
A hearing was set for next Wednesday to determine whether he should continue to be detained pending trial.
According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, he entered the U.S. at Blaine the previous night and lied when he said he was going to pick up his wife at a Bellingham mall.
The Iranian native also lied about why he had a new Canadian passport just issued that morning, the complaint said. He told border guards that his old one had gone through the wash, but agents found it during a secondary inspection - with no water damage.
The old one, which was not set to expire until 2013, had been canceled, but it was not immediately clear why. It had three visas for Iran, two issued last year and one issued this year.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tailed King as he left the border crossing. He drove to McMinnville, Ore., where he went to a gun shop and loaded his car with four guns and 480 rounds of .50-caliber ammunition.
Agents say he then drove north to the Ferndale storage unit, where he had $30,000 worth of sniper rifles, handguns and ammo.
When asked about the weapons in his car, King said he was a hunter, according to the complaint.
Amir Zarandi, who owns the Oregon gun shop, McMinnville Hunting and Police Supplies, said King is a consultant and has bought weapons there for years.
Zarandi said King also manufactures ammunition, is well known in the business and “doesn’t do anything illegal.”
“He’s a good person,” Zarandi said. “I’m sure this is just a technicality sort of thing.”
According to the complaint, King was a licensed firearms dealer in Canada under his other name. The license was temporarily suspended when the Canadian government discovered he was selling guns over the Internet, but apparently the license has been “recovered” and may be valid.
It would be nice if “government agents” could be prosecuted for the same crime.
I'm not defending this probable dirt bag, but stockpiling guns and ammo is a hobby, not a crime.
Using a fake identity to purchase firearms is a felony though. I'm sure that since he's an illegal alien though, Obama will want to see the charges dropped.
The guy was a former gun dealer and current re-loader, which explains both the guns and ammo. Nothing he had was illegal. His old passport was canceled so he had a new one. There is no law requiring the destruction of an old passport if a new one is issued. He never attempted to cross the border with the firearm or ammunition. It's also not a crime to be an Iranian immigrant.
Unless he has committed some crime with the firearms they have no right to confiscate them and may have violated his rights pretty egregiously. I'll have to watch how this one plays out.
This is the kind of story that will be written about gun owners when the government starts collecting them from citizens. Those with the guns will be demonized and characterized as potential (or active) terrorists.
“Are police-grade sniper rifles more deadly than assault weapons or High-powered rifles?”
450 rounds of .50 Cal - I should say yes
Nice police work on the release and tail.
Exactly. Many predicted years ago the MSM would eventually brand anything with a scope was a “sniper” rifle............
Since when does quantity = lethality? 450 rounds is nothing. A reloader may do that many in a single sitting. I personally reload about 10x more ammo then I shoot because I enjoy reloading as much, if not slightly more than shooting. As a result I guess I have a “stockpile.”
There is no law limiting the amount of ammo or firearms a person may own.
It isn't a gun shop open to the public as far as I can tell. No one knew it existed.
maybe amir gives a homeboy discount.
I reload as well. Typically, I like to use a full tray of 100 primers at a time. That's what fits in the tube of the Dillon 550. It amounts to two boxes of 50 rounds. 5 trays consumes a bulk box of 500 bullets. No big deal on a progressive building .38SPL. It's a lot more work to use a single stage to load .50 cal. Especially 450 in a sitting.
My point was that, given the information provided, no crime has been committed. Given that he has been arrested, his property confiscated, and he is being tried in the court of public opinion as a potential terrorist this whole affair is pretty disturbing. As I stated in my other post, this characterization is what we can all expect once the government starts going after gun owners.
There isn't even any indication that the guy is an illegal alien or anything else. If that were the case then he would not have been allowed through the border checkpoint. It is legal for non-resident aliens, visitors, and other lawful non-residents to possess firearms in the US.
ping
Does he have a permit to buy and sell weapons within the United States? He is not an American citizen, and lives in Canada. At the very least he is breaking International trade laws
Was he going to smuggle them to the Iranian regime or to the resistance? If the latter then the Feds should be helping him.
The news just said so far he is being charged with lying to Border officers and for being an Alien in possession of firearms. So back off defending the guy just because he is appears to be a gun dealer.
My point is that he was using the label "hunter" to excuse the variety of firearms under discussion. None of them is particularly suited to hunting. Most of my hunting has been for cottontail rabbits. They taste good and the pelts aren't half bad. A good .22LR is sufficient. If hunting for deer was on my "to do" list, the lever action 30-30 or T/C Encore with 270 barrel would be just fine. Elk might demand the .30-06 barrel. I certainly wouldn't cart a 7-10 lb "police grade" bolt action rifle. A 45 lb .50bmg would be an insane choice for chasing down deer.
No permit is necessary to buy and sell weapons if it was for his own collection. There is no evidence yet disclosed that he owned the gun shop. No article states that the guns were in international trade. They went from a shop in the US to a storage unit in the US.
A Canadian citizen who is in the US legally can buy firearms provided certain paperwork requirements are met.
You may have missed the part that he is CANADIAN, not a USA Iranian immigrant. It was his CANADIAN passports that were in question; and note that one is in his ‘real’ name; the other in his alias’ name.
Note that as a non-immigrant, temporary visitor to the USA, he, in general, can not purchase firearms.
The statement he made about ‘going hunting’ was an attempt to cover his tail by asserting a permissible exception, PROVIDED he has the proper hunting license...and he didn't.
The crime leading to confiscation is most likely illegal purchase/possession by a nonresident alien, but the 'false staements' charge was enough to hold him while the rest gets investigated.
You are correct, “police grade” is a sales term and does not denote anything special, unique or restricted about the gun in question. He can be a hunter but also enjoy collecting and shooting other types of non-hunting firearms including a .50bmg rifle. Until an inventory is released we don’t know if he had a .22lr in his collection.
I had an FFL for a number of years and enjoy all types of firearms. Bolt action rifles or hunting firearms hold about the least interest for me.
He is innocent until proven guilty and should not have had his collection confiscated just because he’s Iranian and happened to have some guns (legally).
Possession of firearms by non-resident visitors is legal, even if they are residents of Canada and an Iranian national. That does not mean he entered the country illegally. Whether he purchased them here or if they belong to someone else has yet to be determined.
Think what you like. You people are jumping to a lot of assumptions that are downright dangerous. I’ll pick the side that says “innocent until proven guilty” regardless of the accused’s nationality.
Oliver is an Iranian Citizen.
As a former FFL, would there be problem with that?
If he was a legal immigrant with a hunting license and utility bills showing 3 months of continuous residence in that state then he can purchase all the long guns he wants from an FFL provided all state laws are followed.
The same person can possess firearms that belong to someone else (borrow, shooting at a range, etc.) legaly. He can not buy them in a private party transaction because the seller (a non-FFL) can’t legally sell to a non-citizen.
I understand your point but starting his case with an obvious lie makes him criminal to begin with.
His original passport was washed with his clothes?
Really?
And then they find his original passport upon a second pas?
He is already making a case his future
Next time you fill out a 4473 read the inside pages. They lay out all the details covering what is and isn’t a legal transaction. It’s kind of dry but many people would be surprised to find out that non-citizens can buy a firearm and that there are certain conditions under which even a DV conviction isn’t a disqualifier.
The laws covering purchasing and possessing firearms are vastly different. A person may be prohibited from purchasing but not possessing.
IIRC, 50 cal rifles are prohibited under current Canadian law, so he’s not a Canadian gun dealer. He’s not a hunter either.
I enjoy reloading as much
You are a very odd duck
(SNIP)...old one, which was not set to expire until 2013, had been canceled, but it was not immediately clear why...
It would appear that the old one was canceled. That makes his possession of it irrelivent. I don’t know why he lied, but people do some pretty silly things when they are nervous. Hence the best advice is always to exercise your 4th and 5th amendment rights.
I’m just a libertarian when it comes to gun rights who wishes the gov’t would go back to where it was about 150 years ago.
You’re right that one shouldn’t leap to conclusions based on ethnicity or country of origin. Reading the various articles there is a confusing array of “facts”, however.
Questionable passports, possible alias, no valid hunting license, no wife or Target store.
If this were Arizona and a few items changed one might think the officials were acting on reasonable suspicion.
Quite possibly. I often find myself somewhat “abrasive” towards mexicans. I try not to be but they make it very difficult sometimes.
I'm afraid I have to ageree with Vendome on this.
Possession/purchase is legal with qualifications; not as an absolute, last time I looked at the law. That is why I wrote, "The crime leading to confiscation is most likely illegal purchase/possession by a nonresident alien, but the 'false staements' charge was enough to hold him while the rest gets investigated.
Temporary confiscation is standard police procedure in most cases involving alleged weapons violations.
>King has been charged with making false statements to a government agent, and being an alien in possession of firearms.<
This guy is NOT clean.
Exactly. There is no game in CONUS that cannot be taken with a .338 Mag, any of the various 300 Mags, similar rifles, and I would be comfortable with any with my 1903 Springfield 30.06.
This guy is trouble.
I understand what you’ve been saying. You’re right about “innocent until proven guilty”. Exactly right. Nothing he owns is automatically a problem... heck... I’ve got more than that in my own safe.
But it’s also fair to recognize that the Iranian connection ~does~ matter, and the fact that he made false statements to law enforcement also ~does~ matter. Why is he lying about his old passport? That’s a fair question. Is it racial profiling to pick on him because he’s Iranian? You bet it is. And for good reason, too.
You Sir are a weak and frail Old Man! LOL /s
Hunt with a .50 cal? What?
I’ll tell you what = A Blue Whale!!!
Soooohhhh, a Meth dealer shouldnLt have his drugs confiscated either?
If he was an undocumented drug dealer then should not be allowed to take his ‘’MedicineLL as evidence of a crime?
What evidence then shall ‘1” present to a prosecutor, who will then present to a judge and maybe a jury?
think fast n00b....
In my area there are hispanic families who’ve been citizens, employed and productive and practicing Catholics since the civil war era. Their demeanor and comport is generally distinct from recent immigrants, legal or otherwise. Many aren’t conversant in Spanish.
The lines get blurry when the youngest mix with the new blood, gangs and all.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.