ALEXANDRIA, VA. — Ugandan national Michael Katungi Mpweire, 45, made an initial appearance in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on October 8, 2026. Mpweire was extradited to the United States from the Republic of Uganda to face 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.

Theophani K. Stamos, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Frank Tarentino, Associate Chief of Operations of the Drug Enforcement Administration, announced the charges. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The indictment alleges that since at least September 2022, Mpweire conspired with Peter Dimitrov Mirchev, Elisha Odhiambo Asumo, and Subiro Osmund Mwapinga to illegally supply military-grade weaponry to Mexican drug cartels, particularly the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG). The alleged 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 to facilitate the illegal trafficking of large shipments of cocaine into the United States.

Mirchev allegedly agreed to arrange, coordinate, and participate in illegal arms transactions with individuals claiming to represent the CJNG while avoiding detection by international and U.S. law enforcement. He recruited Asumo to corruptly obtain an End-User Certificate (EUC) from a nation that would falsely claim a different end-user for the weapons. Asumo, Mpweire, and Mwapinga allegedly obtained an End-User Certificate from the United Republic of Tanzania authorizing the importation of AK-47s.

Mirchev and others exported 50 AK-47 automatic assault rifles and accompanying magazines and ammunition from Bulgaria as a test shipment using the certificate, with the intent that the weapons be received by the CJNG. Asumo, Mpweire, and Mwapinga allegedly agreed to provide arms control documents designed to obscure that the weapons were intended for the CJNG.

The defendants allegedly continued to conspire to supply drug cartels with additional weaponry, potentially including surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft drones, and the ZU-23 anti-aircraft weapon system. Mirchev allegedly created a list of weaponry for the CJNG totaling approximately 53.7 million Euros (approximately $58 million U.S.).

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 on February 20, 2025. Spanish authorities arrested Mirchev in Madrid on April 8, 2025, and he was extradited to the United States on March 19, 2026. Court records indicate Mirchev was previously implicated in supplying arms to Viktor Bout, who was convicted in case 1:08-cr-365 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Mwapinga pled guilty on September 9, 2026, to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, and is scheduled to be sentenced on January 13, 2027. If convicted, Mpweire faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and up to life in prison. The case was investigated by the DEA’s Special Operations Division - Bilateral Investigations Unit with assistance from the U.S. Department of War.