A U.S. District Court judge in Montana has sentenced a 27-year-old man from Kelowna, B.C., to 18 months in prison for using fake names to buy guns with the aim of selling them in Canada.

A statement from the United States Attorney鈥檚 Office in Montana says Haptei John Kozak pleaded guilty earlier this year to four counts of making false statements during a firearms transaction.

Judge Donald Molloy also imposed a $10,000 fine and three years of supervised release, along with ordering that Kozak forfeit 12 firearms.

U.S. attorney Jesse Laslovich says in the statement that black-market firearm smugglers like Kozak contribute to an 鈥渆pidemic of gun violence nationally and internationally because these weapons often end up in the hands of criminals.鈥�

The statement says investigations by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the RCMP found that Kozak used a fake Montana driver鈥檚 licence and provided other false information to buy 12 firearms in different Montana cities last year.

It says a review of Kozak鈥檚 text messages and other evidence indicated that he was planning to buy the weapons to sell back in Canada.