3 Arrested in Alleged Firearms-Smuggling Plot

Three Philippine nationals who allegedly planned to use a Garden Grove warehouse to repackage firearms and ammunition before illegally shipping them to their country have been arrested by federal agents, authorities said Monday.

Agents of U.S. Customs and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms also seized hundreds of firearms and ammunition at a Long Beach residence last Friday in the case, officials said.

Federal agents identified those arrested as Antonio Paredes, 65, a retired judge; his son, Quintin, 42, a lawyer, and Maria Louise Tan Hang, 34, an importer.

The cache was displayed at a news conference in Los Angeles on Monday. Rodney Watson, ATF’s senior operations officer in Los Angeles, estimated that 371 .25- and .45-caliber handguns, 1,000 rounds of ammunition and half a million reloading primers seized by agents could be sold in the Philippines for about $500,000.

“For a $50,000 investment, they could have made $500,000,” said Watson.

Watson said all the weapons and ammunition were seized from the Long Beach residence. At the Garden Grove warehouse, , agents found invoices and containers.

“We have evidence that they were planning to repackage the guns and ammunition in oil filter containers and them smuggle them into the Philippines,” Watson said.

Robert Wall, an ATF assistant special agent in charge of the four-month investigation, stressed that the operation was purely commercial and said there was no evidence that the arms were intended for opponents of Philippine President Corazon Aquino.