Filipino national in New Jersey pleads guilty to gun smuggling

KIRBY SANTOS in Camden, New Jersey pleaded guilty to smuggling firearms to the Philippines. AP PHOTO

CAMDEN, New Jersey — A Filipino national has admitted to running an operation that smuggled more than $200,000 worth of firearm parts out of the United States.

Thirty-eight-year-old Kirby Santos pleaded guilty on Wednesday, October 7, in front of a federal district judge in Camden.

Santos admitted that he purchased firearm parts from suppliers in the United States from 2008 to 2013. He had the parts sent to people in Toms River, New Jersey, and Lynwood, Washington, and had them repackage the parts to send to him in the Philippines.

Santos was arrested in Guam in March. He faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced January 20.

His co-conspirator, Abelardo Del Mundo, 53, of Toms River, pleaded guilty to taking part in the conspiracy last April and is scheduled to be sentenced December 10.

Del Mundo met Kirby Santos of the Philippines through an Internet forum and arranged to have the parts sent to Del Mundo’s Toms River home to make it appear as if it was a domestic sale.

The firearms parts – rifle parts and pistol barrels among them – were packaged to make it appear as if they were food products or other home goods.

Del Mundo used the alias “Teng Flores” on packaging labels. He was paid through cash payments and wire transfers sent to Del Mundo’s relatives in the Philippines, prosecutors say.

The conspiracy lasted from 2008 through October 2013. During that time some $200,000 worth of parts were sent to the Philippines without the required export license.

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