MIAMI — At first blush, the oversized blue plastic barrels appeared to be shipments of simple household items like clothing, bottles of Gatorade and shoes for use in Haiti.
But a deeper search of the wrapped garbage bags would reveal something more sinister, and deadlier: AK-47 and M1A rifles, and ammunition capable of piercing armored police vehicles and dense concrete walls to take out an enemy a mile away.
On Wednesday, two South Florida residents, along with a Haitian national who lives in Orlando, were indicted in federal court, along with the leader of a notorious Haitian gang behind last year’s kidnapping of 17 American and Canadian missionaries. They are charged with criminal conspiracy to violate U.S. export laws by smuggling firearms and munitions to aid the gang 400 Mawozo in Haiti.
