Midamar clarifies purpose behind its export services

Midamar in a statement Monday clarified it only provided export services to the family accused of smuggling guns to Lebanon and had no involvement or knowledge of the weapons.

Midamar was one of the locations searched last week after firearms and accessories were found concealed in shipping containers bound to Lebanon and had a connection to the company.

The company said it learned that Herz Enterprises, using Midamar Shipping Services, was sending a container holding Bobcat machinery to Lebanon. When Midamar found that the machinery didn't fill the container, Midamar organized a clothing drive for Syrian refugees to be sent in the same container to save shipping charges.

'The only intention of the clothing drive was to help desperate refugees with needed supplies,” according to the statement.

Midamar, a Halal food business, was informed last week that weapons were found inside the Bobcat shipped by Herz, according to the statement. Weapons were not found in the clothing donated to Syria.

According to the affidavit for the criminal complaint, one of the containers intercepted in Norfolk, Va., on March 26 had 53 firearms, firearm parts and accessories and more than 6,800 round of ammunition hidden within three Bobcats. The container also had a piano, boxes filled with clothing, shoes, honey and household supplies.

On May 8, law enforcement searched another container of Herz Enterprises which had 99 firearms, more than 9,500 rounds of ammunition and firearm parts and accessories. Many of the firearms were concealed with the two Bobcats, but also there was ammunition and firearms found concealed in suitcases and boxes containing clothing within this shipping container.

A Homeland Security agent testified last Friday during a detention hearing for the defendants that they couldn't find an entity under the name of 'Herz Enterprises” in Iowa or Illinois.

'No charges have been filed against Midamar, and none are anticipated,” Midamar officials said in the statement. 'There is no evidence that the company's owners and employees had any knowledge or involvement in the alleged weapons smuggling.”

Authorities confirmed no Midamar employees had been arrested last week when searches were conducted at Midamar and Pizza Daddy, owned by a brother of one of the defendants. According to the complaint, some of the guns were concealed in white plasic bags 'smiliar, if not the same as” those used by the restaurant.

Ali Herz, 50; his son, Adam Herz, 22; his brother Bassem Herz, 30; and Bassem's wife Sarah Zeaiter, 24, are charged with conspiracy and delivering a package to a carrier without notice that it contained firearms and ammunition.

According to a criminal complaint, the four legally obtained guns and ammunition from dealers in Eastern Iowa, purchasing 113 firearms in 17 months. But then they conspired to conceal them in the containers.

The four family members remain in jail pending trial. If convicted, they each face five years in prison.