Man pleads guilty to illegally shipping firearms from US to Ghana
A Columbia man has pleaded guilty to illegally shipping firearms out of the US via the Port of Baltimore, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
Eric Nana Kofi Ampong Coker, age 41, of Columbia, Maryland, last week pleaded guilty to the illegal export of firearms. According to his guilty plea, since 2017 Eric Nana Kofi Ampong Coker has purchased at least 81 firearms from three separate Maryland Federal Firearms Licensees (“FFLs”) and in 2019 received Regulated Firearms Collector status through the Maryland State Police, which waived the restriction on the number of firearms he could purchase during a 30-day period.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher has scheduled Ampong Coker's sentencing for 2 p.m. on September 6, 2023, state staff said
In 2019, he obtained a Regulated Firearms Collector status through the Maryland State Police, which waived the restriction on the number of firearms he could purchase during a 30-day period, state staff said. During the course of their investigation into the illegal exportation of firearms, investigators learned that, prior to 2021, Coker had a history of shipping vehicles to Ghana, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
In May 2021, federal agents surveilled Coker as he retrieved firearms purchased from one of the licensees. They then watched him visit a variety of locations, including a business that packaged and shipped items from the Port of Baltimore, state staff said.
A shipping vehicle was seen leaving the location on May 27, 2021, state staff said.
Two days later, on May 29, 2021, Coker was searched as he was headed to Ghana from Detroit, Michigan. Law enforcement officials seized from his luggage foam cutouts used for packaging and securing firearms in gun cases, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
The following month, Homeland Security Investigations officers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents identified a shipping container scheduled to depart the Port of Baltimore for Tema, Ghana, state staff said.
Among the listed contents in the container was a 2018 Toyota Corolla that was registered to Coker. That list did not mention any firearms, according to the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office.
That month, federal agents searched the contents of the shipping container, state staff said. They found a grey suitcase in the trunk of the Toyota Corolla.
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