Gun smugglers shipped weapons to Colombian drug cartel in exercise machines, feds say


  • By Kevin P. Connolly Orlando Sentinel (TNS)
  • 1 hr ago

ORLANDO, Fla. — They were hidden inside exercise machines.

But the secret payloads weren’t for working out.

They were for arming South American drug lords.

Two Central Florida brothers were recently sentenced in Orlando for their roles in an unusual gun-smuggling plot.

Nelson Cartagena, 41, and Dairo Cartagena, 38, both of Rockledge, Fla., smuggled military-style rifles and other firearms inside of motor housings of exercise machines shipped to Colombia, federal authorities said.

Many of the guns went to an unknown drug cartel in that country, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
Orlando-based U.S. District Judge Anne C. Conway sentenced the elder Cartagena to 15 years in federal prison.

His younger brother got 5 years and 3 months’ behind bars.

Nelson Cartagena and Dairo Cartagena pleaded guilty to the charges and were adjudicated guilty on Oct. 30 and Nov. 24, respectively.

Two others who pleaded guilty for their roles in this case are set for sentencing on March 5.

Court documents show the brothers bought firearms from November 2013 to July 2014.

They purchased them from federally licensed dealers and private sellers at Central Florida gun shows, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

“They smuggled many of them to Colombia, hidden inside the motor housing of exercise machines,” federal records say.

“Law enforcement agents seized 88 firearms and 49 high-capacity magazines that had been purchased by the Cartagenas and had been shipped, or were packaged and ready for shipment, to Colombia.”

The intercepted shipments included military-style rifles, pistols that shoot .223 caliber armor-piercing rifle rounds and a variety of 9 mm pistols, records allege.

“Based on evidence collected during the investigation, agents estimated that more than 100 firearms were purchased by the brothers and sent to Colombia during this conspiracy,” records say.

“One box containing three assault rifles and a pistol was intercepted in Colombia and a shipment of 15 firearms was intercepted in Miami.”

Two more boxes were found in Dairo Cartagena’s apartment ready for shipment to Colombia. They had a total of 30 firearms and 49 magazines.

http://www.salina.com/news/national/...aa5919be7.html