Feds Charge Orland Hills Man With Trafficking Dozens Of Guns: US Atty.

CHICAGO, IL — An Orland Hills man was arrested on federal firearm charges, accused of trafficking more than 35 guns, including “ghost guns,” machine guns, and rifles. The operation, run out of his Matteson car wash, was thwarted when he sold guns to a gang member working as a law enforcement informant, according to the criminal complaint.

Arshad Zayed, 38, is charged with willfully dealing firearms without a license and illegally possessing and transferring a machine gun. Zayed was arrested Wednesday morning and made an initial appearance Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Chicago.

A detention hearing is scheduled for Friday at 2:30 p.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Beth W. Jantz.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jimmy L. Arce, Patrick Mott, and Tiffany Ardam.

According to a criminal complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, Zayed sold about three dozen firearms on seven occasions this year and last year. Many of the transactions occurred in a car wash that Zayed managed in Matteson, the complaint states.

Several of the firearms were considered “ghost guns” because they contained no identifiable serial number and were manufactured from parts collected from various sources. Some of the firearms, including some of the ghost guns, were machine guns capable of automatically firing more than one shot with a single pull of the trigger, the charges allege.

Unbeknownst to Zayed, the high-ranking Chicago gang member to whom he sold the guns was cooperating with law enforcement, the complaint states.

The FBI, ATF, IRS, Chicago Police and Illinois State Police were involved in the investigation as part of a Justice Department cross-jurisdictional strike force, according U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.