U.K. Citizen sentenced for Trafficking Firearms 

Jahziah Roy Lewis has been sentenced for conspiring to straw purchase firearms, possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, exporting firearms outside the United States, and possession with intent to distribute marijuana.  “Lewis directed the straw purchase of the guns, had their serial numbers obliterated, and then smuggled them in household items with the intent of selling them abroad,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine.  “Our federal and international law enforcement partners were able to intercept some of the shipments before they were used in a crime.  We will continue to aggressively prosecute those who buy firearms for others and unlawfully export them for illicit purposes.”  According to Acting U.S. Attorney Erskine, the charges and other information presented in court: Between February 18, 2017, and May 14, 2020, Jahziah Roy Lewis, a citizen of the United Kingdom, and two accomplices, were involved in an international weapons trafficking conspiracy to purchase and illegally export approximately thirty-six firearms and drugs from the United States to the United Kingdom and the Caribbean via the U.S. Postal Service. Multiple firearms purchased in Georgia have been recovered in the United Kingdom and St. Kitts are tied to various criminal networks abroad.  At the time of each purchase, Lewis’s co-conspirators completed paperwork in which they falsely claimed to be the actual buyers of the firearms when they knew that they were buying the guns for someone else (Lewis). Lewis then directed his accomplice to obliterate the serial numbers on the firearms.  After the firearms were purchased, Lewis would sell the firearms abroad by directing his accomplices to conceal the firearms in everyday household items and export them abroad using false names on shipping labels.  On October 1, 2020, the same day the Indictment against Lewis’ co-defendants was unsealed, Lewis obtained an outbound ticket for a flight from the United States to the United Kingdom. Local law enforcement, however, intercepted Lewis at the Miami International Airport and arrested him on a criminal complaint before he was able to board his flight.  Jahziah Roy Lewis, 30, of Saint Kitts and Nevis, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas W. Thrash to four years, nine months, to be followed by three years of supervised release.  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Bureau of Industry and Security, the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the United Kingdom National Crime Agency led the investigation in this case.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Dash A. Cooper is prosecuting the case.  This case was brought as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN). In keeping with the Attorney General’s mission to reduce violent crime, the Northern District of Georgia’s PSN program focuses on prosecuting those individuals who most significantly drive violence in our communities and supports and fosters partnerships between law enforcement and schools, the faith community, and local community leaders to prevent and deter future criminal conduct.