Gun smuggling Pinoy brothers sentenced to 36 months in jail

BROOKLYN, NY – A federal court judge in Brooklyn sentenced Filipino law enforcer brothers to three years in a New York federal prison Friday for international arms trafficking.

Rex and Wilfredo Maralit were found guilty last year of shipping military grade firearms to the Philippines between 2009 and 2013.

Court documents show that the Maralit brothers used their law enforcement badges to obtain and smuggle military-grade assault rifles, sniper rifles, and other high-powered weapons to the Philippines.

Wilfredo’s lawyer Louis Freeman said, “Conspiracy to export weapons that were on a list that you’re not allowed to export.”

A third brother, Ariel, received and resold the deadly weapons in the Philippines.

Ariel remains at large in the Philippines.

The Maralit brothers declined ABS-CBN News’ request for comments.

Rex, 46, was a New York police officer, while 49-year-old Wilfredo was a former Customs and Border Protection officer at Los Angeles International Airport.

In a statement, US District Attorney Loretta Lynch said, “These defendants violated their sworn duties to uphold the law, abusing their positions of trust to profit from the illegal export of extremely dangerous weapons.”

In an emotional plea for leniency during the sentencing, Rex said that he did what he did only to augment his income to give his family a better life.

Wilfredo, for his part, said that he only did what he did because of his brothers.

But in handing down the sentence, Federal Judge Allyn Ross underscored that, “The rule of law applies with equal force to law enforcers and non-law enforcers.”

The Maralit brothers’ three year sentence will begin in May.