Lebanese man sentenced for part in illegal gun shipments to Beirut

By Chris Eger

Authorities dismantled the ring in 2015 after intercepting containers filled with heavy equipment and clothing used to mask firearms, some wrapped in bags for Pizza Daddy, an eatery the family owned. (Photo: The Cedar Rapids Gazette)
A federal judge in Iowa on Wednesday gave a man from Lebanon a nearly five-year sentence for his connection to a ring of Lebanese expatriates who shipped guns to the Middle East.
Fadi Yassine, 42, was given 57 months in federal prison after entering a guilty plea for conspiring to violate the Arms Export Control Act and ship, transport, and deal firearms without a license. The Lebanese citizen, arrested as he disembarked from an international flight arriving in New York City in February, worked with a family from Cedar Rapids who previously pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges as part of a ring that shipped more than 100 guns hidden inside shipping containers to Lebanon.
According to court documents, Yassine communicated from Lebanon extensively with the Iowa group via Facebook and unnamed “secure social media applications” and provided $30,000 cash to help purchase guns. The group ultimately moved guns on four occasions during 2014 and 2015 to the Middle Eastern country. Yassine admitted to helping in the

Source: Guns.com