KAMPALA — A Ugandan man and three other African and European nationals have been indicted on charges of conspiring to illegally supply more than $58 million worth of military-grade weapons to a notorious Mexican drug cartel, U.S. authorities announced.
Michael Katungi, from Uganda, is charged alongside Peter Dimitrov Mirchev of Bulgaria, Elisha Odhiambo Asumo of Kenya, and Subiro Osmund Mwapinga of Tanzania. According to a federal indictment filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, the group allegedly planned to provide the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) with a vast arsenal that included machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades, sniper rifles, and anti-aircraft weapons.
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The U.S. has officially designated the CJNG as a foreign terrorist organization.
The indictment alleges the group’s scheme involved a test shipment of 50 AK-47 assault rifles and a larger plan to sell sophisticated weapons, including surface-to-air missiles. The defendants are accused of conspiring to distribute cocaine and of understanding that the weapons would be used by the cartel to facilitate drug trafficking into the United States.
To conceal the weapons’ true destination, Mirchev allegedly worked with the others to obtain falsified End-User Certificates. The indictment states that Mirchev recruited Asumo, who in turn recruited Katungi, and Mwapinga to secure a false certificate from Tanzania for the import of AK-47 rifles.
Mirchev, who the indictment notes was previously linked to convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout, was arrested in Spain in April and is awaiting extradition. Asumo was arrested in Morocco and is undergoing extradition proceedings. Mwapinga was arrested in Ghana in April and was extradited to the U.S. in July.
Katungi remains at large. He could not be reached for comment. A Ugandan news outlet, Chimpreports, quoted Katungi as denying the accusations, stating, “Ignore with contempt deserved. Mere accusations.”
If convicted, the defendants face a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison and up to life.
