2 Trinidad and Tobago nationals plead guilty in Florida gun-ring case

Two TT nationals were among three who pleaded guilty to federal charges in the United States after they were held in 2021 attempting to smuggle firearms from Florida to Trinidad and Tobago.

US State Attorney Roger B Hanberg announced in a communique that Tevin O’Brian Oliver, a 30-year-old man from Homestead, Florida originally from TT; Jameal Kaia Phillip, a 30-year-old TT national and Edward Solomon King, a 31-year-old man from Tampa, Florida all pleaded guilty to federal charges.

Oliver and Phillip pleaded to conspiracy to smuggle goods from the US, and King pleaded guilty to disposing of a firearm to an alien who had been admitted to the United States under a non immigrant visa.

Oliver and Phillip each face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. King faces up to 15 years in federal prison.

As part of a plea deal the defendants also agreed to give up all the guns, ammunition and related items which they used to commit the offences.

The three men admitted to being part of a firearms smuggling ring that unlawfully exported firearms, firearm part and other related items from Florida to TT between 2019 and 2022.

The firearms included pistols, long rifles and gun-part kits. The weapons and weapon parts were concealed in boxing and fight equipment; speakers and other household items to avoid detection from law enforcement and customs.

King helped Oliver get the guns in Tampa to be smuggled to TT. They admitted to acquiring firearms through second party or “straw” purchases, falsely representing the identities of the actual buyers and lying about their ultimate destination. On April 7 2021, Oliver shipped a package with a Taurus G2C 9mm pistol, an SAR Arms SAR-9 9mm pistol, a Taurus G3 9mm pistol, and a Ruger Security-9 9mm pistol, from Miami to TT.

Police intercepted and seized the firearms in TT at the Piarco International Airport on April 22 2021.

After the three men were arrested King made his first appearance in federal court in the middle district of Florida on October 25, last year. Phillip made his in the Southern District on the same day as King and Oliver made his first appearance in the Southern District on October 26, last year.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), including HSI’s attache (Caribbean), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with assistance from the TT Ministry of National Security (Transnational Organized Crime Unit) and TT Police Service (Special Investigations Unit), US Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, US Customs and Border Protection and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.

It is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Patrick Scruggs. This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation.