Global Gun Case Involves Local Company

A Global Investigation 

Authorities suspect the drum magazines in question were in fact made in China and eventually bought by Karl Kleber and his German company "Transarms."  Federal agents then claim the magazines were shipped to Manchester, England in March 2008 at Kleber’s request where a man named Paul Restorick of Mil-Tec Marketing Inc. allegedly tried to sell the magazines to a Florida company. 

Because of the ban on importing these Chinese-made products, the deal never went through, eventually resulting in a lawsuit referenced often in court documents related to the case.  Kleber and Transarms then shipped the magazines to Germany where they supposedly affixed the “Circle and 10” logo to make them appear Bulgarian.

DiChario, who says he first met Kleber at a gun show in Germany years ago, eventually bought the magazines from Transarms, and in September 2008 they arrived at the Port of New York.  Months later the investigation into ATI’s receiving of the shipment began in earnest.

“Smell of Sweet & Sour” 

Court documents refer to email and phone conversations between Karl Kleber and various associates, including co-defendant Gary Hyde.  There are repeated mentions of these men using code words to refer to the Chinese-made accessories.

“The drum magazines must not smell of sweet and sour or of special fried” one line in the court papers states.

There are also mentions of ongoing investigations into Kleber and others by European authorities.  U.S. agents claim to have learned that German investigators were looking at Kleber and Transarms for their "possible involvement in the illegal sale of machine guns via Croatia to Iraq."

The Arrests & Raid

Federal authorities are not commenting on specifics dealing with the arrests of Karl Kleber and co-defendant Gary Hyde.  However, the unsealing of their criminal complaints (attached) reveals each was taken into custody in last week.

DiChario said he believes Kleber was arrested near New York City because one of his sales associates was scheduled to meet with him the following day on an unrelated matter and was subsequently informed via email that Kleber had “become ill” and had to cancel that meeting.

Court documents also state that Gary Hyde, a British businessman allegedly involved in these transactions, was taken into custody in Las Vegas, Nevada.  DiChario was also in Las Vegas at a large gun show and he now suspects Hyde was there too. 

On Friday January 21st federal agents also executed a search warrant at DiChario’s Chili businesses where he says they confiscated all of his computers and hard drives.  (attached)  DiChario said everything was returned on Monday and he only hopes that his company being “duped” into buying the drum magazines will help authorities catch suspected gun-smugglers who have been closely watched for many years.

"I'm most concerned about bringing these people to justice," DiChario said.  "This is a real small potato to the big pot if you know what I'm talking about.  I think they're utilizing this whole structure here to lock these guys down and get to the bottom of the big stuff."

Kleber is due back in federal court for a detention hearing on Friday and the U.S. Attorney’s Office has tentatively scheduled a press conference following that court appearance.