Hamid Malekpour of Iran Brings Illegal Weapons into US, Picks Up Weapons in Oregon, and Stores Them in Washington State

Iranian, Hamid Malekpour (aka Oliver King) attempted to illegally bring weapons into the United States. He was born in Tehran, Iran and is age 35.

He was discovered at the Blaine, Washington crossing from Canada and charged with making false statements to the government and also having firearms as an illegal alien.

Malekpour is in custody now, as he was deemed a flight risk. His documents show that he has traveled to Iran numerous times in recent years. When he was arrested he had a brand new Canadian passport, issued that same day, notes Oregon Live.

$30,000 of Weapons in Locker in FerndaleWashington

The weapons he had included sniper rifles and Glock semi-automatic handguns, When officials searched a storage unit he had in Ferndale, Washington State they discovered over $30,000 worth of weapons, notes News Register.

Gun Shop in Oregon Linked to Hamid Malekpour

Many of the weapons were in boxes to be sent to a business in McMinnville, Oregon owned by Amir Zarandi. This hunting and police supply store did not have a sign outside. Local police were not aware that the business existed.

Later, when his car was searched after visiting Zarandi's business, officials found shotguns, semi-automatic handguns and almost 500 rounds of 50-caliber ammunition. An official described a 50-caliber round "that's a big round -the stuff you shoot at airplanes and tanks," reports News Register.

Malekpour told officials he had the weapons because he is a hunter. That story was deemed a lie as this type of equipment is not used for hunting.

Purpose for the Weapons?

Why might someone from Iran be smuggling weapons into the USA? Is a group stockpiling weapons for an attack on the West Coast? Or was that area simply deemed easier to enter the US?

Might Hamid Malekpour have ties to Hezbollah here? Iran is believed to be closely allied with this Lebanese terrorist group. There is a large contingent of Hezbollah supporters in the Michigan area. Some shops there have the Hezbollah flag hanging on the front of the store.

The Hezbollah flag has a yellow background and is dominated by an image of an AK-47. Hezbollah is all about violence. The USA has it on the list of terrorist organizations.

Iran is often accused of shipping Scud missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon to prepare for war against Israel. Iran actively supports Hezbollah. Do they have gun runners here in America too?

Is Iran Active in America?

Is Iran also helping Hezbollah in the United States? Lately it seems there are many more terrorist plots being nipped in the bud by federal authorities here in America.

There has been very little news in the mainstream media on the arrest of Hamid Malekpour. However, it is very alarming indeed that someone from Iran had a large cache of weapons in a storage locker in Washington state. Is Hamid Malekpour simply a gun dealer or is something more ominous involved?

Sources:

http://www.newsregister.com/article/44432-arms%20cache%20tied%20mac

http://www.katu.com/news/94805914.html

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/05/canadian_gun_dealer_who_obtain.html