Columbia Man Sentenced on Heroin and Firearm Charges

Columbia, South Carolina ---- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon stated that Abdullah Jabbar Aquil, a/k/a “Wap,” age 42, of Columbia, was sentenced in federal court to 92 months’ imprisonment to be followed by 6 years of supervised release. Aquil plead guilty in January to possession with intent to distribute heroin and felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, all in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(C), and 851 and Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). United States District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis, of Columbia, imposed the sentence and ordered that it run consecutive to a 24 months’ imprisonment sentence Aquil is currently serving.

Evidence presented in court established on February 3, 2017, after making several controlled buys of heroin from Aquil, deputies with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department executed a state search warrant upon one of Aquil’s residences. Inside they found a Glock .40 caliber firearm, ammunition, and digital scales. A further search of Aquil’s vehicle revealed a little over 9 grams of heroin. 

Aquil is prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms and ammunition based upon his prior state convictions and a prior federal conviction. Aquil has prior state convictions for possession of cocaine, possession of pistol by person under 21 years of age, carrying pistol unlawfully (two separate counts), distribution of cocaine, criminal domestic violence, possession with intent to distribute marijuana 2^nd offense, possession of stolen pistol, and possession of crack cocaine 2^nd offense. At the time of the incident, Aquil was on federal supervised release for a 2009 federal conviction for felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, for which he previously served 70 months’ imprisonment.  Aquil’s federal supervised release was revoked in May 2017, and he is currently serving 24 months’ term of imprisonment for that revocation. Today’s sentence will run consecutive to that term of imprisonment. 

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”) and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department and was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state and local Project CeaseFire initiative, which aggressively prosecutes firearm cases in an effort to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer. Project CeaseFire is South Carolina’s implementation of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a crime reduction strategy originally launched in 2001. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has made turning the tide of rising violent crime in America a top priority and reinstituted PSN nationwide.  Assistant United States Attorney Stacey D. Haynes of the Columbia office handled the case.

#####