A Dominica resident who built a smuggling pipeline through Connecticut suppliers, eBay purchases and U.S. shippers was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison this week for illegally trafficking firearms and firearm parts out of the country. Dimitri Beix, a dual Dominican and French citizen, was ordered to serve 66 months after admitting he ran the scheme from at least January 2021 through September 2024.
U.S. District Judge Vernon D. Oliver handed down the sentence in Hartford, according to the Hartford Courant. Beix had pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to violate the Export Control Reform Act, admitting he exported firearms, firearm components and ammunition from the United States to Dominica without the licenses or authorization required by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Court records described a sprawling, patchwork supply chain rather than a single smuggler acting alone. Beix relied on what the Courant characterized as a “network of suppliers, buyers and shippers” spread across Connecticut and other parts of the country to source the weapons and components he needed.
How the Parts Moved From eBay Listings to Dominica
Rather than buying everything himself, Beix often handed his U.S. contacts shopping lists, directing suppliers to purchase specific firearm parts on his behalf through eBay and other retailers, the same report states. He also used his own eBay account directly, purchasing more than 100 firearm parts that were first shipped to individuals inside the United States before making their way to him in Dominica, according to the outlet's reporting.
The parts were shipped to domestic addresses before making their way to Beix in Dominica. In February 2023, authorities intercepted three parcels addressed to him.
Parcels Intercepted With Six Handguns and Rifle Components
In February 2023, Dominica authorities intercepted three parcels shipped from the U.S. and addressed to Beix, as reported by Yahoo News. Inside, investigators found six handguns along with Glock slides, trigger assemblies, sight assemblies, rifle and pistol magazines, AM15 rifle parts, a suppressor kit, ammunition and other firearm components, per that outlet's account.
Beix remained free for more than a year and a half after that interception before U.S. authorities caught up with him. He was arrested in Sint Maarten at the request of U.S. authorities on November 27, 2024, and was extradited to the United States in February, the Courant's report notes.
A Multi-Agency Case Spanning Two Countries
The investigation that built the case against Beix drew on an unusually wide bench of federal agencies, led by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security alongside Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the IRS Criminal Investigation Division. Investigators also received assistance from HSI Caribbean, Dominica's Customs and Excise Division and the Commonwealth of Dominica Police Force, according to the Justice Department's U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut.
Securing Beix's arrest and extradition required coordination beyond U.S. borders, with the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs and authorities in Sint Maarten assisting in that effort, per the same federal statement. Court filings reviewed by the Courant describe the operation's reach as running through Connecticut and elsewhere in the country, underscoring how a scheme aimed at supplying firearms in the Caribbean depended on a wide domestic footprint of buyers and shippers to function.
Reporting on Beix's age has varied: Yahoo's account from his guilty plea listed him as 28, while the Courant's account listed him as 29 and the Justice Department's sentencing announcement also listed him as 29. Court records reviewed for this story did not resolve the discrepancy.
