A Margate man has been convicted for his role in a 2023 murder-for hire plot that ended in the killing of an airplane mechanic, authorities said.

Avin  Smalls  Seetaram, 27, was convicted by a federal jury of murder-for-hire conspiracy, murder for hire, stalking resulting in death, discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, conspiracy to use and carry a firearm during a crime of violence, and causing the death of a person through the use of a firearm during a crime of violence, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said Thursday.

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Seetaram was one of three men arrested in the kidnapping and murder of 36-year-old Suren Seetal, who worked as a mechanic at Opa-locka Airport and Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport and also had a fireworks business.

Seetal had disappeared on Nov. 2, 2023, and his decomposed body was later found dumped in the Florida Everglades with a gunshot wound to his head.

Authorities said Seetaram conspired with 32-year-old Christopher  Lil Chris  Singh and Gavin Hunter, who was 18 at the time, to kill Seetal.

Broward Sheriff's Office Broward Sheriff's Office

According to an arrest affidavit, Singh had owed Seetal around $315,000 related to his fireworks business, and Seetal's girlfriend said he had begun trying to collect his debts.

The conspirators had first targeted Seetal in July of 2023, when they tracked him and sent a gunman to kill him, prosecutors said.

Seetal and the gunman exchanged gunfire, but no one was struck.

The second plot unfolded months later, in November, when Seetal was lured to a business and a gunman, believed to be Hunter, ambushed and shot him, the affidavit said.

Seetaram and Singh paid the gunman then worked to conceal the crime, including transporting and disposing of Seetal's body in the Everglades, prosecutors said.

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Security footage showed Seetaram and Singh buying a 96-gallon yard waste cart at a Home Depot shortly after the murder, the affidavit said.

Seetaram faces up 20 years in federal prison on the conspiracy 

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