Five men were arrested on March 20 and accused of illegally buying weapons throughout Texas to allegedly smuggle them across the border.
This from msn.com.
According to court documents:
Federal authorities toppled a major gun trafficking operation intended to arm Mexican drug cartels with over 100 “military-grade” firearms.
The federal criminal complaint states:
These firearms included FNH SCAR rifles, Barrett .50 caliber rifles, FNH M294S rifles, and M1919 rifles, all of which are highly prized by Mexican drug trafficking cartels for their firepower and battlefield reliability.
They are symbols of cartel profit, power, and prestige due in part to their high price to purchase and operate … Mexican drug trafficking cartels use these weapons to engage in battle with their enemies and exert control over their claimed territory.
Gerardo Rafael Perez Jr. is the alleged ringleader of the operation that was intended to arm cartels in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
Four straw purchasers—identified as Gerardo Ibarra Jr., Gerardo Corona Jr., Francisoc Alejandro Benavides and Mark Anthony Trevino Jr.—illegally secured weapons in western, southern, and northern districts of Texas, the criminal complaint alleges.
This became a crime in 2022 after the bipartisan gun safety bill—authored by Texas Sen. John Cornyn—passed and went into effect.
According to court documents:
Luis Matias Leal, who went by several nicknames including ‘Wicho,’ ‘Poncho’ and ‘El Tio,’ allegedly funded the operation, and Antonio Osiel Casarez allegedly smuggled the guns into Mexico and returned to the U.S. ‘with bulk cash.’
The criminal complaint states:
Mendoza allegedly sold at least 22 guns for $169,900 between December 2022 and March 2023.
According to court documents:
The scheme began to unravel in late January 2023, when federal firearm licensees in San Antonio denied a sale because of ‘suspicious circumstances of the attempted purchase.’
Mendoza—who allegedly sold the guns—along with two suspected straw purchasers, Ibarra and Corona, were arrested and charged last March.
Perez Jr., the alleged ringleader, and Casarez, who is accused of smuggling the guns across the border, were arrested last September in Laredo, Texas, where law enforcement found a large cache of weapons and over hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
The suspects—all 30 or younger—face a 14-count federal indictment.
If convicted, the conspiracy to traffic firearms charges carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison and conspiracy to straw purchase guns carries a maximum sentence of 25 years.
Final thoughts: This is what has been stopped. The impossible question to answer is ‘what did we miss?’
