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Posted on Tue, Aug. 09, 2005
Colombian sentenced to 25 years for brokering weapons deal

Associated Press


TAMPA, Fla. - A Colombian national was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for trying to broker a deal in Tampa for $4 million in guns and grenades for a terrorist group in his homeland.

U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore sentenced Carlos E. Gamarra-Murillo on Monday after he pleaded guilty in February to engaging in the business of brokering and exporting defense articles without a license and providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Gamarra-Murillo, 54, negotiated the purchase of weapons from a confidential informant and undercover U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in 2003 and 2004 on behalf of Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, a U.S.-designated terrorist group.

The deal involved flying the weapons - 2,000 firearms and 4,000 grenades - to a remote airstrip in western Venezuela, where the sellers were to receive 60 percent of the payment in cocaine and 40 percent in cash, the agency said.

Gamarra-Murillo was arrested in Tampa during negotiations with undercover agents on April, 1, 2004, during which he told them he was also interested in buying some Stinger missiles and Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, the agency said.

Gamarra-Murillo held a U.S. visitor's visa that expired last September