Four additional individuals have entered guilty pleas in a firearms trafficking case in the United States involving numerous guns purportedly smuggled into Canada via Akwesasne, a Kanien’kehá:ka territory spanning Quebec, Ontario, and the U.S.
As per a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire, Conrad Oakes, aged 25, Tayson Terrance, aged 24, Ranonkwatseronhawi Gibson, aged 22, and Montana Cook, aged 27, admitted guilt to charges of conspiring to conduct illicit straw purchases of firearms and conspiring to traffic firearms.
In a straw purchase scenario, an individual legally permitted to buy a firearm acquires it on behalf of another person, often someone barred from owning one or seeking to hide their identity.
The four accused individuals, all residents of Akwesasne, are slated for sentencing hearings in February 2027.
They are part of a group of eight individuals indicted in May in connection with the alleged trafficking scheme. Five others — Justin Jackson, Melissa Longe, Dustin Tuttle, Caleb Wilcott, and Doug Mulligan — had previously pleaded guilty to firearms-related offenses.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office, investigators have identified 51 firearms that potentially moved from New Hampshire to Canada through Vermont and New York, with at least 10 subsequently found at Canadian crime scenes.
The investigation was initiated after Montreal police discovered a firearm with a removed serial number during a search warrant execution in a kidnapping probe. The gun was traced back to Tuttle, who had bought it in New Hampshire.
In a separate incident, following a shooting attempt in a Montreal parking lot, Canadian law enforcement located the discarded firearm, which was traced to Longe, a Vermont resident who has since pleaded guilty. She purchased the firearm from a Federal Firearms Licensee in Winchester, N.H.
Authorities allege that the network exploited Akwesasne’s geographical proximity to the border to transport guns into Canada. One defendant purportedly utilized Jet Skis to move contraband from the New York section of the territory to Cornwall Island, Ont., where another individual would then carry it through a border checkpoint and further into Canada.
The news release also mentioned that the investigation uncovered indications of alleged narcotics and human trafficking between Canada and the United States.
The probe was led by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in collaboration with Homeland Security Investigations, with support from Canadian and Indigenous law enforcement agencies and other partners.