Thread: Berkeley woman held on suspicion of unlicensed export of guns to Thailand

Berkeley woman held on suspicion of unlicensed export of guns to Thailand
Doug Oakley
06/04/201

BERKELEY -- Federal agents arrested a Berkeley woman holding Thai citizenship over the weekend for allegedly exporting firearms parts from the U.S. to Thailand without a license.

Supanee Saenguthai, 35, was taken into custody in Berkeley at the same time five others -- four men and another woman -- were arrested in the Seattle area, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, said Emily Langlie, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to an indictment, the six conspired to violate the Arms Control Export Act with 240 shipments from 2011 until their arrests. It says they used fake names and fake invoices and packed the parts in specific ways to avoid x-ray detection of parts that included .45 caliber handgun ammunition magazines and rifle and handgun barrels.

The indictment does not say where or to whom the gun parts were going once they were received in Thailand, but the case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice's national security division counterespionage section and the U.S. attorney's office.

Some of the parts were labeled as "glow in the dark marker sets" and "replacement springs and metal caps for bottling machine," according to the indictment.

The other five arrested included Naris Lekhakul, 42, a Thai citizen arrested at Sea-Tac airport near Seattle; his brother Nares Lekhakul, 36, a lawful permanent resident of Bellevue, Wash.; Witt Sittikornwanish, 24, a U.S. citizen in Los Angeles; Wimol Brumme, 41, a Thai citizen living in Las Vegas; and Sangsit Mowanna, 35, a U.S. citizen living in Los Angeles.

insidebayarea.com

It will be interesting to know who the recipients of these guns are.

With guns so easy to get hold of in thailand, why go to the risk of exporting them from the usa.