A Ugandan national has appeared in a United States federal court facing charges of conspiring to supply cocaine and provide military-grade weapons to a Mexican drug cartel designated by Washington as a foreign terrorist organisation.
Michael Katungi Mpweire, 45, made his initial court appearance following his extradition from Uganda to the US, where he faces charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to possess firearms, including machine guns and destructive devices, in furtherance of drug trafficking, and conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation.
According to an indictment, Katungi and three foreign nationals allegedly conspired to supply military-grade weapons to Mexican drug cartels, particularly the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), one of Mexico’s most violent and prolific transnational criminal organisations.
The alleged conspiracy dates back to at least September 2022 and involved Bulgarian national Peter Dimitrov Mirchev, Kenyan national Elisha Odhiambo Asumo and Tanzanian national Subiro Osmund Mwapinga.
The indictment alleges that the group sought to supply the cartel with an extensive range of weapons, including machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades, sniper rifles, anti-personnel mines, night-vision equipment and anti-aircraft weapons.
US prosecutors allege that the defendants believed the CJNG intended to use the weapons to facilitate the trafficking of large shipments of cocaine into the United States.
The cartel was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organisation under US law and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on February 20, 2025.
Alleged AK-47 shipment
According to the indictment, Mirchev held a series of meetings with individuals claiming to represent the cartel, during which he allegedly agreed to arrange and coordinate illegal arms transactions while evading detection by US and international law enforcement agencies.
Mirchev allegedly recruited Asumo to obtain an End-User Certificate (EUC) through corrupt means from a country that would falsely be identified as the final destination for the weapons.
Prosecutors allege that Asumo, Katungi and Mwapinga obtained a certificate from Tanzania authorising the importation of AK-47 rifles.
Using the document, Mirchev and others allegedly exported 50 automatic AK-47 rifles, together with magazines and ammunition, from Bulgaria as a test shipment intended for the CJNG.
The indictment further alleges that the group planned to expand the weapons supply, potentially including surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft drones and the ZU-23 anti-aircraft weapon system.
Mirchev allegedly prepared a list of weapons worth approximately €53.7 million, equivalent to about $58 million, for the cartel.
Asumo, Katungi and Mwapinga allegedly agreed to provide additional arms-control documents intended to conceal the cartel as the weapons’ actual end-user.
Links to convicted arms dealer
Court records cited in the case indicate that Mirchev had previously been implicated in supplying weapons to Viktor Bout, an arms dealer convicted in the US of offences including conspiring to kill US nationals and government personnel, acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles, and provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation.
Mirchev was arrested by Spanish authorities in Madrid on April 8, 2025, and extradited to the United States on March 19, according to the court records provided.
Meanwhile, Asumo and Mwapinga pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine on July 23 and September 9, respectively.
Asumo is scheduled to be sentenced on November 4, while Mwapinga’s sentencing is scheduled for January 13, 2027.
Faces possible life imprisonment
If convicted, Katungi faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life imprisonment.
However, actual sentences in federal cases are often lower than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The charges were announced by Theophani K. Stamos, First Assistant US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Frank Tarentino, Associate Chief of Operations at the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The case was investigated by the DEA’s Special Operations Division–Bilateral Investigations Unit, with assistance from the US Department of War.
The US Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs also coordinated efforts to secure the defendants’ extraditions, working with law enforcement and justice officials in Uganda, Ghana, Spain and Morocco, as well as DEA attachés serving US embassies in Accra, Nairobi and Kampala.
Ugandan institutions involved in the extradition process included the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Katungi’s case remains subject to court proceedings, and the allegations against him have not yet been established as facts in court.
