Rapper T.I. arrested on gun charges

ATLANTA – Grammy-winning rapper T.I. was arrested Saturday – just hours before he was to perform at the BET Hip-Hop Awards – in a parking lot where federal officials said he planned to pick up machine guns and silencers his bodyguard bought for him.

T.I., born Clifford Harris, is charged with possession of unregistered machine guns and silencers, as well as possession of firearms by a convicted felon. Harris was in federal custody, said U.S. attorney’s office spokesman Patrick Crosby, who would not disclose his location.

The arrest resulted from an investigation that began this month. A federal firearms dealer told the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that a man was inquiring about buying a machine gun without registering the weapon as required, according to a criminal complaint filed Saturday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta.

After trying to buy several machine guns from an undercover ATF agent, the unnamed person began cooperating with the government and said he was buying the machine guns and silencers for Harris, the complaint said.

Harris brokered the deals through the bodyguard because the rapper is a convicted felon, the complaint alleged.

It is against federal law for a convicted felon to have another person get firearms on their behalf.

The 27-year-old rapper arranged to meet with the bodyguard Saturday to exchange cash for weapons, the complaint said. After his arrest, agents found three firearms in the vehicle he was driving, according to the complaint.