Court sentences Chicago man one and half year in prison for handgun offense

A Suburban Chicago man has been sentenced by the court to one year and a half in federal prison. He was involved in selling handguns to a woman who tried to smuggle them to Egypt. According to the court documents, Omran Ismail purchased four handguns from a legal firearm dealer in November 2013 in Tinley Park. He transferred the guns to Ola Sayed, the co-defendant of Ismail, immediately after the purchase.

According to the court documents, the purpose of transferring the handguns to Sayed was aiding her to smuggle the guns to Egypt. Sayed tried to smuggle the guns to Egypt but she was caught by the custom officials. The Customs officials found the guns in her luggage when she was trying to board a flight to Cairo via London.

Sara L. Ellis, a US District Judge, sentenced Ismail to 18 months in federal prison. He was found guilty on two firearm counts in front of a federal jury. Sayed was also charged in the case but she fled. She is considered a fugitive in this case. John R. Lausch, Jr., the US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and James M. Gibbsons, a special agent-in-charge of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Home Security Investigations’ Chicago office, announced the sentence of Ismail.

The US Custom and Border Protection and the Chicago Police Department provided assistance during the investigation of the case. According to the court documents, Ismail filed the federal form falsely as he was not the actual buyer. Ismail transferred the four 9mm handguns to Sayed immediately for smuggling them to Egypt.

According to the court documents, Sayed bought two 9mm guns on her own and she tried to smuggle all six guns to Egypt. She was caught by the Customs officials at O’Hare International Airport on Dec. 23, 2013. Sayed is facing the charges of having six 9mm handguns in her luggage while boarding a flight to Cairo from O’Hare International Airport. She is considered a fugitive in this case. The charges are pending against her.