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Updated 19 hours ago
The owners of an electronics shop in Ross have been charged in federal court with fraud for buying and reselling stolen items.
According to authorities, between August 2014 and June 2016, Aliya and Qamar Zaman, who owns Ninja Electronics on Babcock Boulevard, knowingly bought stolen merchandise that was “new and in the box” and then resold the items to store customers and through the online retailer Amazon.
The couple were charged with mail fraud for using the U.S. Postal Service to send a package containing stolen merchandise to Seattle in January 2016, according to court documents filed Feb. 2.
The Zamans also were accused of engaging in an illegal “monetary transaction” after they transferred $25,251 from the Amazon Marketplace into their account at Citizens Bank “knowing that the funds were derived from a criminal offense,” according to federal prosecutors.
In June, agents from the FBI, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service as well as police from Shaler, Ross and Pittsburgh searched eight Pittsburgh area electronics stores and an electronics warehouse — including the shop owned by the Zamans.
At the time, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Pittsburgh said the raids were part of an ongoing federal investigation but did not provide details. Federal officials declined comment on the charges filed against the Zamans.
The couple could not be reached for comment. Chris Rand Eyster, the lawyer listed in court documents for the Zamans, also could not be reached.
Tony LaRussa is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-772-6368 or tlarussa@tribweb.com.
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