JUST IN: US court sentences businessman to jail time for bringing military-style guns and ammunition into Nigeria

A Maryland citizen who smuggled weapons to Nigeria and unlawfully transported weapons with erased serial numbers was given a sentence of more than five years in federal prison.

Maryland’s Baltimore Eric Fru Nji, 42, of Fort Washington, Maryland, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett on Tuesday to 63 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for conspiring to smuggle weapons and ammunition from the United States to Nigeria. Nji was also mandated to pay a $25,000 fine by Judge Bennett. On May 6, 2022, following a two-week trial, Nji and co-defendants Wilson Nuyila Tita, 47, of Owings Mills, Maryland, and Wilson Che Fonguh, 41, of Bowie, Maryland, were found guilty of those crimes.

Erek L. Barron, United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, James C. Harris, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Baltimore, and Toni M. Crosby, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Baltimore Field Division, all made the announcement of the sentence.

According to the trial’s evidence, Nji and his co-defendants conspired to transfer weapons, ammunition, and other military-related commodities from the United States to Nigeria between at least November 2017 and July 19, 2019.

A shipping container that they transported out of the Port of Baltimore in January 2019 included 38 weapons, 28 of which had the serial numbers erased, according to the evidence presented at trial. Sniper rifles, SKS assault rifles (several with bayonets), various firearms, and numerous pistols were among the arsenal. Almost 35,000 rounds of ammo, two rifle scopes, and 44 high-capacity magazines were present. Nji and his accomplices provided money for the purchase of weapons, ammunition, reloading supplies, and other equipment to be shipped abroad and used by separatists battling the Cameroonian government, as was described in trial testimony. The evidence established that Nji and his accomplices smuggled the weapons, ammo, rifle scopes, and other goods into a shipping container bound for Nigeria while concealing them in duffel bags and tightly wrapped parcels within sealed compressor units. In order to hide their operations, Nji and his accomplices talked about their efforts and plans to transfer guns and ammunition using an online encrypted messaging service and code words.

In related instances, Fonguh, Tita, and seven other defendants are awaiting punishment.

Erek L. Barron, United States Attorney, praised HSI and the ATF for their efforts in the investigation. For their contributions to the investigation, Mr. Barron thanked the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Export Enforcement, the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, the Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen O. Gavin, who is in charge of the case’s prosecution, was praised by U.S. Attorney Barron.