Two Chechen men living in the Washington area have been accused of smuggling firearms to the Russian republic.
A release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia says 28-year-old Tengiz Sydykov and 27-year-old Eldar Rezvanov were arrested on February 27 on charges of international trafficking in firearms, smuggling, and other offenses.
A criminal complaint says the Alexandria, Virginia, residents purchased more than 100 disassembled firearms and tried to ship them to Chechnya without a license, using false shipping inventories and disguising the parts as kitchen utensils and car seat covers. Postal employees told investigators the pair made parcel shipments nearly daily.
The men appeared in a U.S. district court on February 27 and were ordered held pending a detention hearing on March 1. Each faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.