Slightly OT

Breaking news in Portland, Or
for what it is worth.

oregonlive.com

Canadian gun dealer who obtained weapons in McMinnville arrested after feds find ammo
By The Associated Press
May 20, 2010, 7:47PMFederal agents 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.

The man had recently picked up four weapons and 480 rounds of .50-caliber ammunition from a gun shop in McMinnville.

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 today 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, where he went to a gun shop and loaded his car with the guns and high-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 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.

— The Associated Press