On July 30, 2025, a U.S. federal indictment that was unsealed accuses former Lieutenant Michael Katungi Mpeirwe and his four companions of conspiring to provide military-grade weapons to Mexico’s Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) in return for assistance with cocaine trafficking. The prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia have brought these charges.
According to U.S. authorities, Mpeirwe has allegedly teamed with Peter Dimitrov Mirchev, a Bulgarian, Elisha Odhiambo Asumo from Kenya, and Subiro Osmund Mwapinga from Tanzania to illegally forge end-user certificates and delivery verification protocols.
They targeted to make it easier for the cartel to get firepower through the falsifying of documents.
A test shipment was said to have consisted of 50 AK-47 assault rifles coming from Bulgaria, and the certificates issued for the shipment falsely claimed that the guns were headed for Tanzania.
They mapped out new projects not only for that but also the transfer of surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft drones, and a ZU-23 anti-aircraft weapon system. The total value of the weapons list they suggested went up to around €53.7 million (about $58 million).
The group CJNG was labeled a terrorist organization from abroad by the U.S. in February 2025 hence making the arm trafficking to them a breach of U.S. and international laws.
The guilty verdicts are associated with mandatory minimum sentences of 10 years and there is also the possibility of life imprisonment.
Mirchev was arrested in Spain, Asumo in Morocco, and Mwapinga in Ghana. Mwapinga has been sent back to the U.S. under extradition while the others are going through the legal process of getting there. Mpeirwe is still on the run.
Mpeirwe, a retired officer of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces, was in charge of security and diplomacy in different African countries.
He became head of Diaspora Affairs in the Patriotic League of Uganda, a pressure group linked to Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, in 2024. The PLU U.S. chapter, while reiterating the presumption of innocence, also called for due process.
