A Saco man who is accused of being part of a smuggling ring that illegally obtained guns in Ohio and brought them to New York City to sell last year has been arrested on a federal warrant issued in New York.

Charles Shells, 47, also known as “Poe,” was arrested Thursday, nearly five months after being indicted by a federal grand jury in New York City on charges of firearms trafficking, conspiracy and being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

Shells was brought Friday to U.S. District Court in Portland, where Magistrate Judge John H. Rich III ordered him held in custody pending a detention hearing next week. He will eventually be required to return to New York to face the charges in federal court there.

Shells is accused of being part of a ring, investigated by the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force, that smuggled at least seven handguns between Canton, Ohio, and the Bronx, New York, between Feb. 28 and June 12, according to court records.

Investigators cracked the ring by getting one criminal defendant, referred to in court records as “Buyer-1,” to work for federal authorities to buy four handguns in April from one member of the ring. Investigators arrested that gun seller June 1, while he illegally had a Smith and Wesson .40 caliber pistol, and persuaded him to begin working undercover for the FBI, according to a complaint written by Edward Murphy of the FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force.

From that start, investigators used video and audio recordings to piece together evidence that Shells and at least three others – Keith “Preme” Vann, Keith Shells and Steven Steele – were part of the conspiracy to go to Ohio in February and April to obtain guns bought in stores and bring them to New York to sell, Murphy wrote.

Investigators had the person arrested June 1 act undercover with a recording device to buy a Taurus .380 caliber pistol from Vann in a car parked in the Bronx June 12, and another .380 at the same location on June 24, according to the complaint.

If convicted, Charles Shells will face as much as five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and as much as 10 years on each of the other charges.