Two men have pleaded not guilty to charges that they tried to sell firearms believed to have been owned by the family of late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
David Phillip Ryan and Carlos Quirola-Ordonez entered their pleas Monday during a brief hearing in federal court in Newark. They were initially charged in 2012, along with two other men.
The 50-year-old Ryan of Miami, Florida, and the 57-year-old Quirola-Ordonez, of New Milford, New Jersey, were each charged with conspiring to transport stolen firearms in an indictment handed up last month. Ryan also is charged with transporting stolen property in interstate commerce.
Federal authorities say Ryan acquired the guns after they were smuggled out of Iraq and recruited Sauer to find buyers. Authorities believe Sauer recruited Blumenthal, who recruited Quirola-Ordonez.
