Three members of a Cedar Rapids family have now been charged for allegedly smuggling guns to the Middle East. Court information filed Thursday charges 50-year-old Ali Afif Al Herz with 24 counts of possessing firearms after being convicted of domestic abuse. Thirty-year-old Bassem Affif Herz is charged with conspiracy.
Twenty-four-year-old Sarah Zeaiter is charged with three counts of making false claims of U.S. citizenship on bank records and federal firearms forms. Twenty-two-year-old Adam Al Herz is charged with 17 counts of possessing firearms as an unlawful drug user.
Each of them is also charged with conspiracy to engage in the business of dealing in firearms; ship and transport firearms in interstate commerce; failing to notify common carriers of the existence of firearms and ammunition in interstate shipments; making false statements and representations on firearms transaction records, and conspiring to engage in money laundering.
The four allegedly packed shipping containers of relief supplies bound for Beirut, Lebanon with more than 150 guns and 16,000.