Sabre Defence raided

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http://www.nashvillepost.com/news/2010/2/17/feds_raid_defense_contractor

Feds raid defense contractor
Agents pay morning visit to Nashville arms manufacturer
Email | Print By Ken Whitehouse


02-17-2010 10:39 AM —
Federal law enforcement agents, led by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, descended on Nashville's Sabre Defence Industries this morning and closed down the facility for at least the day.

Sabre manufactures firearms and firearm parts and accessories. It is contracted by the U.S. armed forces for parts and mounts for the M2 Browning .50-caliber machine gun and Minigun. In addition to its government contracts, it produces the XR15 rifle, non-standard M4 Carbines, and non-standard M16A4s.


Law enforcement officials were seen escorting employees one by one of the company out of their 35,000-square-foot facility on Allied Drive. Each employee was searched next to their personal vehicle, had their vehicle searched and, when cleared, were allowed to leave the premises. No individuals were witnessed being arrested.


After almost all of the employees had left the premises, agents brought in a trailer and backed it up to the company's loading dock.


Reached for comment, federal law enforcement officials declined to comment on their actions and would not specify what the focus of their investigation is.

United Kingdom-based Sabre acquired the Nashville facility in 2002 but had been making military 0.50-caliber barrels and guns since 1979, as well as commercial rifle barrels for various companies. Guy Savage is the CEO and owner of the company, and the Nashville facility is managed by Charles Shearon.

In December of last year, Aerospace Manufacturing Services of Colorado filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee claiming that it is owed $1.05 million for 2,400 .50-calibre machine gun firing bolts.

According to previous media reports, the company employed approximately 85 individuals at its Nashville facility.
 
Hmmm usually in a company raid you don't get searched by your vehicle and then have your vehicle searched.

I am thinking there was an employee selling sears or something on the black market.
 
Hmmm usually in a company raid you don't get searched by your vehicle and then have your vehicle searched.

I am thinking there was an employee selling sears or something on the black market.

I doubt it's anything that "glamourous". BATFE probably has a hair up their ass about something that shop is doing in terms of accounting. Same thing happened to Cavalry arms.... not sure what the real "motive" behind that raid was, though, either.

-Mike
 
Speaking of which... Cav Arms has thrown in the towel... [sad2]

http://www.cavalryarms.com/ said:
2/15/2010 Press Release

Dear Friends and Loyal Customers:

As you may be aware, we have been engaged in an ongoing dispute with the ATF for the past two years. While Cavalry Arms has at all times tried its best to run a lawful and honest shop, unfortunately, some regulatory compliance mistakes were made. We have now come to the point where we feel it is in our best interest to close our FFL and to cease all firearms operations. The owner of Cavalry Arms, Shawn Nealon, has elected to leave the firearms business and concentrate on firearms accessories instead. We are currently in negotiations with another company for that company to purchase the CAV-15 product line. Rest assured that any resulting purchase agreement will address the issue of providing service and support with regard to existing CAV-15 firearm products. We will continue to manufacture quality plastic components, grow our Medical products line, and work to bring new innovations to the relevant markets. Over the next several weeks we will be conducting a wind-down of our firearms manufacturing and FFL operations. Accordingly, please do not send us any firearms for repair or replacement. Instead, such issues should be addressed to the ultimate purchaser of our assets. Due to our limited personnel resources, during this transition/operation wind-down period, the final processing and shipping of firearm receivers already in our inventory will be our first priority.

We deeply appreciate your patience and understanding and anticipate that the relevant asset purchaser will begin operations in March of 2010. We sincerely thank you for your prior and ongoing support during these troubled times and look forward to better years ahead.

Thank you,
Cavalry Arms

Looks like the JBT's at the ATF have "won" again... [angry]


-Mike
 
Maybe they didn't make their [STRIKE]protection payments[/STRIKE] campaign contributions to the Democratic Party.
 
Sabre's official response, looks to me like one or more employees were stealing:

NASHVILLE, Tenn., February 17, 2010 – Sabre Defence Industries LLC, an established manufacturer of firearms and weapon systems to the United States military, state and local law enforcement, and worldwide commercial markets, is fully cooperating with federal agents in an ongoing investigation into potential criminal misuse of certain non-saleable firearms produced by Sabre and purchased by some its employees. Sabre has received information that employee(s) involved in inventory control may have obtained and re-sold some items without appropriate licenses. Sabre is and has been cooperating with federal agents in this investigation.

Sabre has more than 120 employees in its Nashville plant. Sabre’s biggest customer is the United States military. Sabre products used by United States armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan include .50 caliber barrels and components of the M2 Browning machine gun, 7.62 mm mini-gun barrels, and M-16A3 and A4 rifles. Sabre is the only non-public company in the world ever to be awarded a contract for a military spec M-16 rifle. Sabre is dedicated to continuing to provide high quality firearms to the United States military, state and local law enforcement, and Sabre's commercial customers.
 
Well, it sounds like it could have been anything from employees selling full auto sears to assemblies or even completed weapons.

It sort of reminds me of a 'sting' we had at work when an employee was selling gold out of the circuit board assembly/plating shop.
 
I seriously doubt the search warrant listed every employee's personal car. I wonder if anyone bucked?

I'm willing to bet that the POV's in the parking lot at a gun company in Tennessee have a considerable amount of firepower inside. That'd be an interesting raid, to say the least.
 
some places have a policy that all vehicles are subject to inspection if parked on company property. Its usually a search by the company not L/E. If the search is denied its grounds for termination. Kind of like lockers in most highschools can be searched at anytime by school employees. ITs made clear if you use a locker its subject to search by school personal.
 
It seems like half of the industry has been getting in to trouble lately. A few weeks ago I saw this from ALS Technologies.

Link

January 26, 2010

BULL SHOALS, AR

A Message from Founder, Owner, and Chairman of the Board, David Alvirez

I would first like to say thank you to all those who know Linda and me for your continuing support.

As everyone in our community knows, A.L.S. has been a good corporate citizen and a strong contributor to the community and the economic well being of Arkansas citizens. A.L.S. has always – and will continue – to operate and support the fine people of this community. It was my intention to share the facts of the case but I have been instructed that I cannot because they are facts in an on going investigation but when the facts are revealable we will prevail.

The federal government has alleged that a manager at our company engaged in illegal activity. These charges will be dealt with in a court of law.

For years A.L.S. has sold its products to many foreign governments and businesses and has conducted these transactions in compliance with all federal, state and local laws. Each international transaction requires State Department or Department of Commerce approval and without exception, every transaction conducted by A.L.S has had proper authorization to move forward.

The management of A.L.S Technologies had no information that there was anything questionable about any of their transactions with the foreign governments. A.L.S. is a law-abiding family business, and having faith in our judicial system will see our people back in good standing soon.

We appreciate your continued support, encouragement, and prayers as we navigate through this situation.
 
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