14 hours ago
Hillsborough County teacher tried to smuggle guns to foreign country: US Attorney
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A former Hillsborough County high school teacher had pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide firearms to a transnational criminal organization, U.S. Attorney Greg Kehoe's office announced.
Shannon Samlalsingh, 46, made false statements to firearms dealers in Hillsborough and Miami-Dade Counties in 2020 and 2021 while purchasing weapons and firearms components, the press release said.
The woman stated she was buying the weapons herself, but had actually been paid to purchase and transfer them to members of a criminal organization from Trinidad and Tobago who were already in Florida. From there, the weapons would be smuggled to Trinidad.
Samlalsignh kept a percentage of the money as compensation for her part in the operation. She faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.
The press release said the weapons were discovered when authorities at an airport in Trinidad seized two punching bags from a shipment from the U.S.
Items recovered from the shipment:
11 9mm pistols
Two .38 caliber special revolvers
12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun
Three AR-15 barrel foregrips
19 lower pistol grip assemblies
11 forearm bolt assemblies
Three AR-15-style barrels
32 AR-15 magazines
One AR-15 drum magazine
470 rounds of AR-15 ammunition
34 9mm magazines
Three 9 mm drum magazines
284 9mm rounds
15 .38 caliber rounds
36 shells
Six magazine couplers
2 shotgun chokes
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