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Even more guns, as well as parts, large-capacity magazine and ammo, were seized during the investigation, Acting New Jersey Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck said Tuesday.
According to the indictment returned in Trenton, Eduardo T. Lazo Jr., 26, of Camden, organized the operation and sold the illegal guns in Camden.
Juan Enrique Fernandez, 29, and Ericknell Rivera-Mercado, 31, both of Philadelphia, are accused of bringing the guns into New Jersey in a private vehicle before they were fully assembled.
Fernandez was carrying a ghost gun when he was arrested, Bruck said.
A warranted search of his home turned up a ghost assault rifle, two more ghost handguns, parts to build a ghost handgun, parts to build five ghost assault rifles, nine large-capacity magazines and several rounds of ammunition, the attorney general said.
The defendants are accused of selling six AR-style ghost assault rifles, nine ghost 9mm handguns, nine illegal large-capacity magazines and a silencer.
None of them had the serial numbers mandated by state and federal law to allow law enforcement to trace the weapons, Bruck said.
Do-it-yourself "ghost guns” -- made from kits of parts and tools -- aren't stamped with serial numbers registered with a federally licensed manufacturer, bypassing background checks and making it all but impossible for authorities to trace to their buyers.
Law enforcement agencies in New Jersey recovered more than 200 ghost guns from October 2020 to the same date this year, Bruck said.
State authorities earlier this year settled the first lawsuit in the country against a ghost gun manufacturer (U.S. Patriot Armory) over its advertising and marketing practices in New Jersey.
The indictment secured by Bruck's Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau charges all three men with transporting weapons into the state for unlawful sale or transfer, possession of an assault firearm, a sawed-off shotgun and a silencer and conspiracy, among other offenses.
The charges stem from a joint investigation led by the New Jersey State Police (NJSP) Crime Suppression South Unit, the DCJ's Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau, the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office Gun Violence Task Force and Bureau of Narcotics Investigation, and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), he said.
The NJSP Gangs & Organized Crime South Unit, NJSP Motor Vehicle Crimes South Unit, NJSP Trafficking South Unit and Philadelphia Police Department assisted, Bruck said.
“Ghost gun traffickers are fueling the violence and death associated with gun crimes while equipping criminals with the means to get away with it," NJSP Supt. Col. Patrick J. Callahan said. "These weapons are virtually impossible to trace by law enforcement after the commission of a crime."
Deputy Attorney General Aaron Witherspoon is lead prosecutor on the case for the DCJ Gangs and Organized Crime Bureau.
Supervisory Special Agent Christopher Marano is the case agent for the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.
Detective Sergio Molina is the case agent for the New Jersey State Police.
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