Five Charged in Gun Sting
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Five men are being charged with illegally selling dozens of firearms to undercover police officers in Brooklyn and Queens, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced today.
Four of the five men – Thomas Suarez, 26, Ali Hassan, 42, Scott Kwaak, 21, and his brother, Clinton Kwaak, 24 – have been apprehended by city police. A fifth individual, Ali Kabeer, 25, has been located in Florida and is expected to be extradited or to return to the city voluntarily to face charges.
According to police, the five individuals sold 38 illegal guns to undercover officers in East New York in Brooklyn and South Ozone Park in Queens posing as buyers, including handguns, shotguns, and an assault rifle for prices ranging from $500 to $2,400 per gun. The men individually sold weapons, but were loosely associated with each other, police said.
Mr. Kelly praised the undercover officers who participated in the sting, calling such an operation “the most dangerous type of police work there is.” He noted that two police officers killed in the line of duty on Staten Island in 2003 were also undercover as part of a gun bust when they were shot.
