{"id":45605,"date":"2026-05-14T21:29:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/45605\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T21:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T21:29:16","slug":"vermont-man-at-center-of-gun-trafficking-network-to-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/45605\/","title":{"rendered":"Vermont man at center of gun trafficking network to Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">CONCORD, N.H. (WCAX) &#8211; Federal authorities say a Vermont man is at the center of a gun trafficking network that spanned from New Hampshire to violent organized crime in Canada. Five people have already pleaded guilty, and eight more have been indicted as part of a scheme the feds say involved smuggling through a northern new york Indian reservation. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">A total of 13 people have been charged in connection with the international gun trafficking conspiracy that authorities say originated in New Hampshire and Vermont.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThis began with tracing of a signal casing,\u201d said Erin Creegan, U.S. attorney for the New Hampshire District.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The shell casing led to 51 guns that authorities say were smuggled into Canada through the Akwesasne Reservation in Northern New York.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"Akwesasne reservation\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/M46N47ZBRJHSFPDKNSXU4ONK4Q.png\" width=\"980\" height=\"746\" \/>Akwesasne reservation(WCAX)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThe investigation soon revealed those purchases were part of a complex international trafficking conspiracy funneling illegally obtained weapons from New Hampshire into Canada, through Vermont and the Akwesasne,\u201d said Thomas Greco with ATF Boston.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Federal ATF agents say 46-year-old Justin Jackson of Dummerston was enlisted by members of the reservation to purchase guns on their behalf. Investigators say Jackson then recruited \u201cstraw purchasers\u201d with clean backgrounds to buy the weapons from a gun shop in Keene.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Jackson and 44-year-old Melissa Longe, also of Dummerston, have both pleaded guilty to their role in the conspiracy. Other suspects are from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and the reservation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Federal agents say several of the guns were located at crime scenes in Canada, including kidnappings and attempted murders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The reservation overlaps the border into Canada, and people living there move back and forth across the border without going through controlled ports of entry. Because of its unique geography, the Mohawk sovereign territory has a long history of international smuggling.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Tribal police on the reservation worked with federal authorities to crack the illegal gun pipeline and say those partnerships are crucial.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cIt is very important to have that and to continue to develop those understanding that sovereignty in some of the tribal nations is always a question,\u201d said Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police Chief Matt Rourke.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Five people have already pleaded guilty, and eight more have been indicted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Three of the suspects remain at large. Investigators say they are considered fugitives from justice.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WCAX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CONCORD, N.H. (WCAX) &#8211; Federal authorities say a Vermont man is at the center of a gun trafficking&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[20271,17,20270,8404,8053],"class_list":["post-45605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-akwesasne","tag-canada","tag-firearms-trafficking","tag-new-hampshire","tag-wcax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}