The Seattle PI story:
SEATTLE — Federal agents said Thursday they have arrested a Canadian gun dealer who kept a stash of sniper rifles and ammunition at a Washington storage unit near the U.S. northern border.
Oliver King - who also uses his given name, Hamid Malekpour - was arrested Wednesday in Ferndale, which is about 10 miles south of the Canadian border. He made an initial appearance Thursday at U.S. District Court in Seattle on charges of making false statements to a government agency and being an alien in possession of firearms.
A hearing was set for next Wednesday to determine whether he should continue to be detained pending trial.
According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, he entered the U.S. at Blaine the previous night and lied when he said he was going to pick up his wife at a Bellingham mall.
The Iranian native also lied about why he had a new Canadian passport just issued that morning, the complaint said. He told border guards that his old one had gone through the wash, but agents found it during a secondary inspection - with no water damage.
The old one, which was not set to expire until 2013, had been canceled, but it was not immediately clear why. It had three visas for Iran, two issued last year and one issued this year.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents tailed King as he left the border crossing. He drove to McMinnville, Ore., where he went to a gun shop and loaded his car with four guns and 480 rounds of .50-caliber ammunition.
Agents say he then drove north to the Ferndale storage unit, where he had $30,000 worth of sniper rifles, handguns and ammo.
When asked about the weapons in his car, King said he was a hunter, according to the complaint.
Amir Zarandi, who owns the Oregon gun shop, McMinnville Hunting and Police Supplies, said King is a consultant and has bought weapons there for years.
Zarandi said King also manufactures ammunition, is well known in the business and “doesn’t do anything illegal.”
“He’s a good person,” Zarandi said. “I’m sure this is just a technicality sort of thing.”
According to the complaint, King was a licensed firearms dealer in Canada under his other name. The license was temporarily suspended when the Canadian government discovered he was selling guns over the Internet, but apparently the license has been “recovered” and may be valid.
It isn't a gun shop open to the public as far as I can tell. No one knew it existed.