A Guyanese man who lives in Georgia, USA has been sentenced to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to smuggling dozens of guns to Guyana.
According to the Associated Press, Federal prosecutors in Atlanta said 39-year-old Jermine Prosper, who lived in Conyers, legally purchased about 50 guns in Atlanta and smuggled them in shipping barrels to Guyana, where they were sold on the streets.
Prosecutors said the legal permanent resident bought the guns between October 2013 and November 2015. They included 34 9 mm pistols, eight .380-calibre pistols and six .25- calibre pistols. He was sentenced last week. The smuggling of guns here has been a major problem.
According to court documents seen by Stabroek News, Prosper smuggled weapons between January 1, 2014 and April 14, 2016 and packed them at the bottom of blue barrels which were shipped on Amerijet. Prosper stated that he would use the 75-gallon barrels to ship the firearms and put them at the bottom of the barrel and then put other items over them including food.
During his interrogation Prosper was told by a special agent attached to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that in one instance one of the weapons he had shipped had been recovered in a drug stash house in Grenada and in the possession of Guyanese civilians. The agent also told Prosper that they were aware of his contacts in Guyana such as `Snake’, `Acho’, `Black Boy’ and `Nicco’.
Prosper told the agent, according to court documents, that he would get between US$1,200 and US$1,500 for shipping three weapons. He said he used code words such as `size 9’ or `size 9 sneakers’ when referring to 9 mm pistols.
