GUN RUNNER

Just another guy trying to make a buck. Or Jihad.
St. Charles man accused in arms case is indicted
By Robert Patrick
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Saturday, Feb. 24 2007

ST. LOUIS — A St. Charles man accused of buying automatic weapons and a
Claymore mine and bargaining for grenades was indicted this week on four
federal machine gun charges. Mousa M. Abuelawi, 22, of Franjoe Court, was originally arrested Dec. 29 and charged with three counts of illegal possession or distribution of a machine gun and conspiracy to violate machine gun statutes.

Abuelawi was indicted Thursday and accused of receiving, transferring and
possessing a machine gun, according to federal court documents made public
Friday. An affidavit filed with the court by FBI Special Agent Stephen M. Smith laid out the alleged weapons purchases this way:

During November and December, Abuelawi bought two M-16s, a Heckler & Koch MP-5 fully automatic submachine gun and a Claymore mine from a government informer, not knowing they had been rigged not to work.

He also negotiated to buy a box of 30 grenades and said he wanted any guns the informer could get, "big or small." The grenades were never delivered.

The men met several times in the 5700 block of West Florissant Avenue, where
Abuelawi worked. One of Abuelawi's co-workers, Thaed Abde Sumad, met with the men once, according to the indictment, and "stated he wants to buy as many explosives as possible because, 'we're going to war.'" In an interview earlier this month, Sumad said he didn't remember the comment and suggested it may have been a joke.

Abuelawi, who is a Palestinian immigrant, is single and has no children and no assets, court documents state. He was fired by the gas station, co-workers said earlier this month.

Scott Rosenblum, one of Abuelawi's lawyers, had no comment about the indictment.