How brothers in arms plotted theft, sale of US Army weaponry
In a series of stories, The @AP has detailed how the U.S. military has a problem with missing and stolen guns and explosives, and how some weapons have been used in domestic crime. But the inside story of how two men who’d forged a deep bond amid the violence of the battlefield attempted to sell stolen Army weapons reveals another kind of threat: an organized group of soldiers and veterans taking advantage of flaws in the military’s system to make fast money.
In a series of stories, The @AP has detailed how the U.S. military has a problem with missing and stolen guns and explosives, and how some weapons have been used in domestic crime. But the inside story of how two men who’d forged a deep bond amid the violence of the battlefield attempted to sell stolen Army weapons reveals another kind of threat: an organized group of soldiers and veterans taking advantage of flaws in the military’s system to make fast money.
-
Tyler Sumlin and Jason Jarvis, bonded by their experiences as soldiers in Afghanistan, tried to sell a cache of stolen U.S. Army weapons in November 2018. They heard from contacts that their intended buyers planned to take the guns into Mexico.http://apne.ws/n8O5I97
Show this threadThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo -
The
@AP’s AWOL Weapons series has shown how security weaknesses have allowed guns and explosives to disappear from the U.S. military — and sometimes, end up on America’s streets. http://apne.ws/zFcPL4gShow this threadThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo -
Sumlin and Jarvis’ case reveals another threat: How determined insiders could take advantage of known security weaknesses within the military to make fast money. http://apne.ws/dvGry7K pic.twitter.com/9S4Mjjr64p
Show this threadThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo -
The two soldiers had become close while specializing in explosive ordinance disposal in Afghanistan. While Sumlin left the army in late 2017, Jarvis remained. He worked in an armory at Fort Bragg, where he had access to a wealth of military equipment. http://apne.ws/ZppwSkQ pic.twitter.com/uc9oLPK9NR
Show this threadThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo -
Jarvis took photos of equipment, and then stole it. He and Sumlin began looking for a place to offload their haul. Several other soldiers or veterans became connected to the scheme. http://apne.ws/bmgqNRW pic.twitter.com/au7obKPfPv
Show this threadThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo -
A contact identified as “Evan” said he’d found a buyer who wanted everything. Jarvis loaded the equipment into a Chevy Tahoe SUV and drove south, picking up Sumlin in Florida. The two men then headed west, to the Texas-Mexico border. http://apne.ws/xodCVXj pic.twitter.com/QuGRmPQOsI
Show this threadThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo -
What the men involved in the scheme didn’t know was that Evan was an informant for the Department of Homeland Security. Sumlin and Jarvis were arrested, and the stolen cache was secured in El Paso. http://apne.ws/ynX94Nz pic.twitter.com/yXWGYMtUqV
Show this threadThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo -
Sumlin insists that drug traffickers were never discussed when he was negotiating the deal with undercover agents. But Evan told the
@AP: “They were going to sell it to the Mexican cartel, period.” http://apne.ws/drKVQQYShow this threadThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo -
New from me and
@JimLaPorta — How brothers in arms plotted theft, sale of US Army weaponry#AWOLWeapons (@AP )https://apnews.com/article/5fe1ad681d89dfc063c1d0d10b95b870 …Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo -
“The husky, bearded former US Army soldier was … understandably tense: He was transporting a platoon’s worth of stolen rifles, enough C4 to blow up his car and those around him, a live hand grenade.” Read this by
@JimLaPorta @JHDearenhttps://apnews.com/article/5fe1ad681d89dfc063c1d0d10b95b870 …Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo -
New
@AP investigation by@JimLaPorta and@JHDearen. Soldiers stole weapons and planned to sell them to narco-traffickers. Their contact turned out to be a government informant.https://bit.ly/3E2a9DtThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo -
Investigación
@AP: cómo dos hermanos de armas planearon el robo y la venta de armamento militar en EEUU. Por@JimLaPorta y@JHDearenhttps://apnews.com/article/noticias-d81943fa568b74bc0e06fab195e138fe …Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo -
New from me and
@JHDearen — How brothers in arms plotted theft, sale of US Army weaponry#AWOLWeaponshttps://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-business-florida-north-carolina-theft-5fe1ad681d89dfc063c1d0d10b95b870 …Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo