Police recover over 100 guns from interstate trafficking ring, NYPD and Queens DA say

Three men have been indicted for illegally trafficking more than a hundred guns into New York City from the Midwest, the Queens District Attorney’s office announced Monday.

Prosecutors say Ahmed “Taju” Mutalib, 32, of Decatur, Georgia, collaborated with 27-year-old Abdul Haruna of the Bronx and 30-year-old Murtala Haruna of Cincinnati, Ohio, to smuggle and sell the weapons.

The three men are cousins, and all face up to 25 years in prison if convicted on the 575-count indictment, including charges of criminal sale of firearms, criminal weapons possession, conspiracy and money laundering, according to Queens DA Melinda Katz.

“They are in custody, and the guns are here instead of on the street,” Katz said at a press briefing Monday.

A seven-month “high-stakes, high-risk” investigation into the alleged gun trafficking ring started with an anonymous tip, said Katz, and unfolded with the help of an undercover officer who arranged to buy a total of 96 guns from the men in a series of meetups over the summer.

Many of the deals took place in the parking lot of a P.C. Richard & Son store on Steinway Street in Astoria, Katz said, while further evidence was gathered through a wiretap on the defendants’ phones. A police officer proficient in languages from Ghana was able to translate their conversations from Hausa, Ga and Twi, according to prosecutors.

On Sept. 8, police caught up with two of the suspects in Staten Island — where they were planning on selling more guns to the undercover officer — and searched their car, recovering 10 more weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition, authorities said. The two were arrested that day, and the third suspect was arrested Nov. 2, per Katz.

A long table in Katz’s office was covered Monday in 109 seized guns, which included a number of assault rifles, semi-automatic pistols and two ghost guns without serial numbers.

“Look at this table. That equates to countless shootings thwarted,” said Captain Jeffrey Heilig from the NYPD’s Firearms Suppression division. Heilig said the undercover officer ultimately spent more than $124,000 to buy the guns.

“This much lethal firepower in the hands of people on the street, I can't even imagine how many lives were saved with this takedown,” Katz added.

The DA praised the investigation for helping Queens further tamp down on gun violence. Shootings in the borough have declined 34% this year to date, according to Katz, while murders have decreased 51%; by comparison, shootings and murders are down citywide 28% and 11%, respectively.

“This is of little comfort to the more than 1,000 victims of shootings across the city this year,” Katz said. “Through investigations, arrests, and prosecutions, we will continue to do all we need to do to shut down the Iron Pipeline” — the nickname for the corridor smugglers commonly use to transport guns from southern states to places with stricter gun laws, such as New York and New Jersey.

Heilig, the NYPD captain, said the recovered guns were trafficked from places in the Midwest, including Cincinnati, Ohio, representing a deviation from smugglers’ normal route.

Attorneys for the Harunas and Mutalib, the three defendants, were not immediately available for comment. The defendants are due back in court Nov. 9.