Kosovo native sentenced for trying to smuggle firearms out of country

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A Kosovo native living in Fayetteville has
been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for trying to bring
firearms with him on multiple trips to his homeland.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Walker said Thursday that Ramadan Rama will
also pay a $4,000 fine after being sentenced in federal court in
Raleigh.

Officials say the 40-year-old tried to smuggle pistols with him
on two trips to visit his family last year. The weapons were
disassembled and hidden in a bid to elude detection. But he was
caught by airport authorities twice, once in Kosovo and once in
Austria.

Court documents say Rama brought the weapons to protect family
members who had been victims of violence in the former Yugoslavian
territory, which experienced a civil war in the 1990s.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)