RALEIGH -- A former Marine and Raleigh man was in federal court today, accused of smuggling 70 firearms over the last five months to England, where he is now living.
Steven Greenoe was stopped by local federal agents Sunday at Raleigh-Durham International Airport trying to fly back to Manchester, England, according to Tony Bell, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who testified in the federal courthouse in Raleigh this morning about the case.
The agents found 16 firearms that had been been broken down in various parts in Greenoe's checked luggage, Bell said. Greenoe claimed he had purchased the guns to bring back to England and then sell to employees of a maritime security company he said he ran to protect ships traveling through dangerous seas and subject to pirate raids, Bell said.
Federal agents think Greenoe was making frequent trips to the Raleigh area and was using a concealed carry license he received in the state to buy multiple guns at once, which he would then put in his checked luggage on return trips to England, Bell said.
Greenoe grew up in Raleigh and then served as an infantryman in the Marines before being medically discharged for an injured knee, according to statements made in court by his mother, Mary Greenoe, and his lawyer.
Greenoe did not speak during this morning's hearing. U.S. Magistrate Judge William Webb ruled that Greenoe should remain jailed, denying a request made by Greenoe's lawyer that he be released to stay with his mother, a longtime Raleigh resident.
Greenoe, 36, came to the attention of local federal agents when agents in the United Kingdom conducting a larger weapons investigation came across three guns brought by an undercover agent, said Bell. The guns were traced to Greenoe, he said.
Those firearms all had the serial numbers removed, and had been bought in North Carolina days earlier, Bell said.
None of the weapons were declared nor did Greenoe have the export license needed to bring firearms out of the United States, Bell said.
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