By KT Reporter
A Ugandan National, Michael Katungi Mpeirwe, has been indicted in the US for conspiracy to supply military-grade weaponry to Mexican drug cartels.
According to the United States Justice Department, Katungi is a Ugandan national with connections to the government who works with ASUMO in acquiring EUCs and DVPs in Africa. He is a Policy Advisor employed by the Government of Uganda and previously worked as a Deputy Head of Mission for the Uganda High Commission and as a security logistics officer associated with the African Union Commission.
He has also served as a security advisor in Tanzania, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya.
In 2021, he contested for Member of Parliament for Butemba County in Kyakwanzi District as an independent candidate but lost.
In 2024, he was appointed the Diaspora Head of the Patriotic League of Uganda-PLU, a pressure group led by General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the Chief of Defence Forces and son of President Museveni.
In an indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of Virginia, the United States charged a Bulgarian arms trafficker and three other foreign nationals with conspiracy to distribute cocaine; conspiracy to possess firearms, including machine guns and destructive devices, in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime; and conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organisation.
According to the indictment, in September 2022, Peter Dimitrov Mirchev, along with Kenyan national Elisha Odhiambo Asumo, Katungi Mpeirwe, and Tanzanian national Subiro Osmund Mwapinga, conspired to supply military-grade weaponry to Mexican drug cartels illegally, and in particular, the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most violent and prolific transnational criminal organisations. The weaponry included machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades, night vision equipment, sniper rifles, anti-personnel mines, and anti-aircraft weapons.
The indictment indicates that the defendants allegedly believed that the CJNG intended to use these weapons in furtherance of the illegal trafficking of large shipments of cocaine into the United States. On Feb. 20, 2025, the CJNG was designated a foreign terrorist organisation.
In a series of meetings with individuals claiming to represent the CJNG, Mirchev allegedly agreed to arrange, coordinate, and participate in illegal arms transactions while avoiding detection by international and U.S. law enforcement.
Mirchev allegedly recruited Asumo to corruptly obtain an End-User Certificate (EUC) from a nation that would falsely claim a different end-user for the weapons. Asumo recruited Mpeirwe, who recruited Mwapinga. Together, they allegedly obtained a EUC from the United Republic of Tanzania authorising the importation of AK-47s.
As a test shipment, Mirchev and others then exported 50 AK-47 automatic assault rifles, along with their accompanying magazines and ammunition, from Bulgaria, utilising the EUC provided by Asumo, Mpeirwe, and Mwapinga, with the intention that the weapons would be received by the CJNG.
The defendants allegedly continued to conspire to supply drug cartels with even more weaponry, potentially including surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft drones, and the ZU-23 anti-aircraft weapon system. Mirchev allegedly created a list of weaponry for the CJNG totalling approximately 53.7 million Euros (approximately $58 million U.S.). Asumo, Mpeirwe, and Mwapinga allegedly agreed to again provide arms control documents designed to obscure that these weapons were intended for the CJNG.
-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
