Fort Liberty major found guilty of smuggling guns to Ghana in barrels of rice

A Fort Liberty Army Major was convicted of smuggling guns to Ghana in barrels of rice and home goods, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

The DOJ said Kojo Owusu Dartey, 42, was convicted on charges of smuggling goods from the United States, dealing in firearms without a license, delivering firearms without notice to the carrier, illegally exporting firearms without a license, making false statements to a U.S. agency, making false declarations before the court and conspiracy.

Dartey, who will be sentenced in July, could spend up to 20 years in prison.

According to court records and evidence, between June 28 and July 2, 2021, Dartley purchased seven firearms in the Fort Liberty area. He also asked a U.S. Army Staff Sergeant at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to purchase three firearms there and send them to him in North Carolina, according to the DOJ.

According to the DOJ, "Dartey then hid all the firearms," which included "multiple handguns, an AR15, 50-round magazines, suppressors and a combat shotgun" inside blue barrels underneath rice and household goods and smuggled the barrels out of the Port of Baltimore, Maryland, on a container ship to Ghana.

The Ghana Revenue Authority seized the firearms and reported the seizure to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Baltimore Field Division.

Additionally, officials said Dartey lied on the stand about his sexual relationship with a defense witness while serving as a witness in the trial of U.S. v. Agyapong, which involved a marriage fraud scheme between soldiers on Fort Liberty and foreign nationals from Ghana.