US intensifies crackdown on Amba sponsors.

The fresh move follows the jailing of a Maryland-based Amba supporter, Eric Fru Nji. The Amba kingpin has been slammed over five-year jail term by a US court.

The separatist sponsor was found guilty by the US State Department of Justice, through the Attorney’s Office in the District of Maryland.

He was found guilty of illegally transporting firearms with obliterated serial numbers and smuggling firearms to Nigeria for onward smuggling to fuel the armed conflict in Anglophone Cameroon.

The landmark sentence was passed on Tuesday March 21. US District Judge, Richard D. Bennett, passed the judgement.

It was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge, James C. Harris of Homeland Security Investigations, HSI Baltimore; and Special Agent in Charge, Toni M. Crosby of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, ATF Baltimore Field Division.

The judgment, it has been mooted across the board, is seen as sending shockwaves down the spine of Amba sponsors in the US. The intensified crackdown by the US government now signals more perilous days ahead for other Amba apologists.

As detailed on the website of the US State Department of Justice, the District Judge sentenced Eric Fru Nji, age 42, of Fort Washington, Maryland, to 63 months in federal prison (over five years).

It was followed by two years of supervised release, for conspiracy, for transporting firearms with obliterated serial numbers, and for smuggling firearms and ammunition from the United States to Nigeria.

He has been ordered to pay a fine of $25,000, estimated at over 15 million FCFA.

Fru Nji, the note of the site detailed, had been convicted of the aforementioned charges May 6, 2022, along with co-defendants, Wilson Nuyila Tita, age 47, of Owings Mills, Maryland and Wilson Che Fonguh, age 41, of Bowie, Maryland, after a two-week trial.

“According to the evidence presented at trial, from at least November 2017 through July 19, 2019, Nji and his co-defendants conspired with each other and with others to export firearms, ammunition and other military typed items from the United States to Nigeria,” note announcing the sentence reads in part.

“Specifically, the evidence at trial established that Nji and his co-conspirators secreted 38 firearms, 28 of which had the obliterated serial numbers in a shipping container that they sent out of the Port of Baltimore in January of 2019. The guns included sniper rifles, SKS assault rifles (some with bayonets), other rifles and several handguns. There were 44 high-capacity magazines, two rifle scopes and over 35,000 rounds of ammunition,” it stated.

“As detailed in trial testimony, Nji and his co-conspirators contributed funds for the purchase of the firearms, ammunition, reloading materials and other equipment for shipping overseas to separatists fighting against the government of Cameroon,” the judgement added.

The judgement continued that “evidence proved that Nji and his co-conspirators concealed the firearms, ammunition, rifle scopes, and other items in duffle bags and heavily wrapped packages inside sealed compressor units, placing those items into a shipping container destined for Nigeria”.

Nji and his co-conspirators, it added, “communicated about their efforts and plans to ship weapons and ammunitions using an on-line encrypted messaging application and code words in order to conceal their activities”.

In the meantime, Fonguh, Tita and seven defendants charged in related cases are awaiting sentencing.

United States Attorney, Erek L. Barron, commended HSI and the ATF for their work in the investigation. 

Barron recognised the US Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement; US Department of State Diplomatic Security Service; Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service; the Naval Criminal Investigative Service; and the US Postal Inspection Service for their contributions to the investigation as well as thanked Assistant US Attorney Kathleen O Gavin, who is prosecuting the case.

It should be recalled that the US State Department had taken a tough stand to impose visa restrictions on all individuals hiding on American soil and other parts of the globe, believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the peaceful resolution of the crisis in the Anglophone Regions.

The move from the US government was in line with incessant appeals made by the Cameroonian leader, Paul Biya, 90, to friendly countries hosting those ordering destruction back home to bring them to book.

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The fresh move follows the jailing of a Maryland-based Amba supporter, Eric Fru Nji. The Amba kingpin has been slammed over five-year jail term by a US court.

The separatist sponsor was found guilty by the US State Department of Justice, through the Attorney’s Office in the District of Maryland.

He was found guilty of illegally transporting firearms with obliterated serial numbers and smuggling firearms to Nigeria for onward smuggling to fuel the armed conflict in Anglophone Cameroon.

The landmark sentence was passed on Tuesday March 21. US District Judge, Richard D. Bennett, passed the judgement.

It was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge, James C. Harris of Homeland Security Investigations, HSI Baltimore; and Special Agent in Charge, Toni M. Crosby of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, ATF Baltimore Field Division.

The judgment, it has been mooted across the board, is seen as sending shockwaves down the spine of Amba sponsors in the US. The intensified crackdown by the US government now signals more perilous days ahead for other Amba apologists.

As detailed on the website of the US State Department of Justice, the District Judge sentenced Eric Fru Nji, age 42, of Fort Washington, Maryland, to 63 months in federal prison (over five years).

It was followed by two years of supervised release, for conspiracy, for transporting firearms with obliterated serial numbers, and for smuggling firearms and ammunition from the United States to Nigeria.

He has been ordered to pay a fine of $25,000, estimated at over 15 million FCFA.

Fru Nji, the note of the site detailed, had been convicted of the aforementioned charges May 6, 2022, along with co-defendants, Wilson Nuyila Tita, age 47, of Owings Mills, Maryland and Wilson Che Fonguh, age 41, of Bowie, Maryland, after a two-week trial.

“According to the evidence presented at trial, from at least November 2017 through July 19, 2019, Nji and his co-defendants conspired with each other and with others to export firearms, ammunition and other military typed items from the United States to Nigeria,” note announcing the sentence reads in part.

“Specifically, the evidence at trial established that Nji and his co-conspirators secreted 38 firearms, 28 of which had the obliterated serial numbers in a shipping container that they sent out of the Port of Baltimore in January of 2019. The guns included sniper rifles, SKS assault rifles (some with bayonets), other rifles and several handguns. There were 44 high-capacity magazines, two rifle scopes and over 35,000 rounds of ammunition,” it stated.

“As detailed in trial testimony, Nji and his co-conspirators contributed funds for the purchase of the firearms, ammunition, reloading materials and other equipment for shipping overseas to separatists fighting against the government of Cameroon,” the judgement added.

The judgement continued that “evidence proved that Nji and his co-conspirators concealed the firearms, ammunition, rifle scopes, and other items in duffle bags and heavily wrapped packages inside sealed compressor units, placing those items into a shipping container destined for Nigeria”.

Nji and his co-conspirators, it added, “communicated about their efforts and plans to ship weapons and ammunitions using an on-line encrypted messaging application and code words in order to conceal their activities”.

In the meantime, Fonguh, Tita and seven defendants charged in related cases are awaiting sentencing.

United States Attorney, Erek L. Barron, commended HSI and the ATF for their work in the investigation. 

Barron recognised the US Department of Commerce, Office of Export Enforcement; US Department of State Diplomatic Security Service; Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service; the Naval Criminal Investigative Service; and the US Postal Inspection Service for their contributions to the investigation as well as thanked Assistant US Attorney Kathleen O Gavin, who is prosecuting the case.

It should be recalled that the US State Department had taken a tough stand to impose visa restrictions on all individuals hiding on American soil and other parts of the globe, believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the peaceful resolution of the crisis in the Anglophone Regions.

The move from the US government was in line with incessant appeals made by the Cameroonian leader, Paul Biya, 90, to friendly countries hosting those ordering destruction back home to bring them to book.