RALEIGH, NC — A North Carolina man who goes by the alias “AK Guru” has been charged with manufacturing and selling hundreds of machine guns built from existing and deconstructed weapons, federal authorities said.

Earl Carter Jr., 72, is being held by federal authorities on charges of conspiracy to manufacture and sell firearms without a license, possession of a machine gun and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to court documents.

Online court records do not show whether Carter entered a plea to the charges. An attorney listed in court filings did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment on the allegations.

An FBI affidavit citing a confidential informant said Carter, whose alias is “AK Guru,” makes machine guns “either by modifying legal firearms to convert them into a machine gun or by piecing together parts from deconstructed machine guns to build functional machine guns. “

Carter also taught others how to make machine guns to sell, according to the affidavit filed Oct. 18. The informant told the FBI that Carter brings an “astronomical” number of machine guns through his workshop and that Carter has “connections around the world that can smuggle firearms from Europe into the United States,” the affidavit said .

“Carter sold over 1,000 fully automatic AK-47s to various groups in the area and that individuals in the ‘mountains’ purchased several fully automatic AK47s per week from Carter,” the affidavit said.

The informant told the FBI that he saw Carter wielding machine guns in his workshop in the small town of Hamlet, about 80 miles (128 kilometers) east of Charlotte. According to the informant, those weapons include fully automatic AK-47-style rifles, a belt-fed .50-caliber Browning M2 machine gun, a PPS-43 submachine gun, a Lanchester submachine gun and others, the affidavit said. The informant said Carter asked him to make machine guns for Carter to sell.

Agents who searched Carter’s home, workshop and other buildings seized several AKs and other firearms with components that appear to make the weapons capable of operating as a machine gun, the affidavit said.

Carter told agents he knew he was a felon and was not allowed to have weapons, the affidavit said. He has a criminal conviction for discharging a weapon on occupied property in February 1994.

Carter will be held in federal custody pending trial, a judge ordered. No court date has been set.