Ugandan national extradited to the United States to face cocaine and firearms trafficking charges in Homeland Security Task Force case
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Ugandan national Michael Katungi Mpweire, 45, made an initial appearance in federal court today on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to possess firearms, including machineguns and destructive devices, in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization following his extradition to the United States from the Republic of Uganda.
As alleged in the indictment, since at least September 2022, Katungi, Bulgarian national Peter Dimitrov Mirchev, Kenyan national Elisha Odhiambo Asumo, and Tanzanian national Subiro Osmund Mwapinga conspired to illegally supply military-grade weaponry to Mexican drug cartels, and in particular, the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most violent and prolific transnational criminal organizations. The weaponry included machineguns, rocket launchers, grenades, night vision equipment, sniper rifles, anti-personnel mines, and anti-aircraft weapons.
The defendants allegedly believed that the CJNG intended to use these weapons in furtherance of the illegal trafficking of large shipments of cocaine into the United States. On Feb. 20, 2025, the CJNG was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization under the Immigration and Nationality Act and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224. Arms sales to transnational criminal organizations like the CJNG are prohibited by virtually every country.