FORMER Trinidad and Tobago World Cup and Olympic cyclist Varun Maharajh was sentenced on September 4 to seven years in a US federal prison for smuggling firearms overseas and possessing firearms as an unlawful alien.
Maharajh pleaded guilty to the offences on March 21.
A release from the US Embassy said Maharajh, 32 was also ordered to forfeit the firearms and ammunition seized in the case.
The embassy said according to court documents, Maharajh shipped a parcel to London containing a microwave with five concealed pistols inside on June 28, 2022. It said the package contained a Taurus G2C pistol, a Glock 17 Gen 5 pistol, two Glock 19 Gen 5 pistols, and 59 rounds of 9 mm ammunition. The serial numbers were obliterated on the firearms and Maharajh used a fake name, Kelvin Singh, to ship the package.
The release said Maharajh dropped off a package addressed to TT on July 18, 2022 at a freight forwarding company in Miami. He worked with an intermediary to fill out the paperwork, and showed a fake ID with the name "Singh" to the freight forwarding company.
The package contained a tent with two AK-47 style firearms concealed within its folds along with a microwave containing pistols. All of the serial numbers on the firearms were obliterated, the release said.
Maharajh was arrested in Indian River County, Florida, on November 19, 2023. He engaged in a high-speed chase on I-95 before wrecking his vehicle and trying to escape on foot.
Maharajh entered the US in 2020 and stayed without legal status after he was scheduled to depart.
He was previously a World Cup cyclist for TT and qualified for the Olympics in 2016.
US ambassador Candace Bond said, “This latest conviction represents the commitment of US law enforcement agencies to collaborate with their TT counterparts, including the Transnational Organized Crime Unit of the TT Police Service to arrest, prosecute, and disrupt illicit weapons-trafficking networks from the US.”
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Credit: Story Reported By Paula Lindo TT NEWSDAY