A federal grand jury indicted a former Arizona corrections officer on suspicion of trying to mail guns to Nigeria.
Chima Kingsley Ugwu, 42, was indicted Dec. 16 on suspicion of hiding five 9mm handguns inside two VCRs and trying to ship them to Nigeria from a United Parcel Service store in Tucson, according to U.S. District Court documents.
Ugwu is charged with attempting to smuggle goods from the United States, attempting to export firearms without a license, and shipping firearms without notice to the carrier.
The charges stem from an October 2013 incident in which agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives responded to the UPS store on East Silverlake Road.
The initial complaint alleged Ugwu told ATF agents he knowingly concealed the guns, which he intended to ship to his brother in Nigeria, and told UPS the package contained two VCRs and a remote control.
At the time of his arrest, Ugwu was a correctional officer with the Arizona Department of Corrections on Wilmot Road, where he worked from September 2011 to February 2014, according to an corrections spokesman.
Ugwu also worked as a youth correctional officer with the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections from August 2010 to September 2011, according to ADJC human resources.
The indictment came more than two years after Ugwu was arrested. The initial charges were dismissed without prejudice — meaning they could be brought again — in July 2014 at the request of prosecutors, court records show.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on why the charges were dropped and then brought back again two years after the arrest.
Ugwu is a former athlete at the University of Arizona and played on the track and football teams. He also participated on the Nigerian Olympic track team in 1996 and 2000.
Ugwu’s defense attorney did not respond to a request for comment. His arraignment is scheduled for Jan. 15.
