Yasser Ahmad Obeid, Firearms Smuggling, Florida 2014

Tampa, FL – In a shocking case of international gun running, Yasser Ahmad Obeid, a 20-year-old St. Petersburg and Lebanon resident, has been sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison for conspiring to smuggle firearms and attempting to export them from the United States.

The sentencing took place on October 8, 2014, before U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich, who handed down the lengthy sentence to Obeid. According to court documents, Obeid and his co-defendant, Jordanian National Mahmoud Abdel-Ghani Mohammad Assaf, were part of a network of individuals involved in smuggling firearms from the United States to the Middle East by concealing them in vehicles purchased at used car auctions in the Central Florida area, and then exporting them overseas.

As part of the operation, Obeid worked for Assaf and others to acquire the firearms and acted as Assaf’s translator and middle-man in arranging the purchases from various sources. The men were eventually arrested after Obeid arranged for Assaf to purchase 30 Glock firearms from an individual who, unbeknownst to the men, was an undercover federal agent.

The case against Assaf is still pending trial, leaving many questions unanswered about the full extent of the operation. However, it is clear that Obeid’s involvement in the scheme has come to an end, with the young man facing a significant prison sentence for his role in the international gun running operation.

This case highlights the ongoing threat of firearms smuggling in the United States, with individuals and networks working tirelessly to circumvent laws and export guns to countries with strict firearms regulations.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations – Tampa National Security Group and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Josephine W. Thomas.

With Obeid now facing the consequences of his actions, the question remains – how many more individuals are involved in this complex web of international gun running, and how far does the operation reach?

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