Thread: Undercover Weapons Smuggling Sting

Undercover Weapons Smuggling Sting

Mar 9, 2014 9:15 AM
KRGV.com


BROWNSVILLE - Federal authorities say four people have been arrested for allegedly planning to smuggle high-powered weapons into Mexico.

ATF agents arrested U.S. citizens Cassandra Camacho and Daniel Cantu Junior as well as Mexican nationals Jesus Ivan Rodriguez and Nestor Leal-Cedillo.

The suspects were reportedly arrested after meeting with an undercover ATF agent and exchanging $17,000 in cash for guns in a sporting goods store in Edinburg on Wednesday.

Court documents say Cantu told agents he knew the weapons, including three AK-47 rifles and one AR-15 rifle, were to be hidden before being transported by tractor-trailer rig to Mexico.

A detention hearing is set for later this week.

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http://www.krgv.com/news/undercover-...g-sting-659722

Gun smuggling suspects arrested

Posted: Friday, March 7, 2014 10:00 pm

By LAURA B. MARTINEZ The Brownsville Herald

Federal authorities arrested four people who allegedly planned to smuggle several high-powered weapons into Mexico.

According to court documents, the group was after a .50-caliber semi-automatic firearm, three AK-47 rifles, one AR-15 rifle and two fully automatic weapons and were willing to pay thousands of dollars.
Yet the seller of the high-powered firearms was an undercover agent with the U.S.Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, documents show.

U.S. citizens Cassandra Camacho, 24, and Daniel Cantu Jr., 21, and Mexican nationals Juan Ivan Rodriguez, 33, and Nestor Leal-Cedillo, 24, were arrested by federal agents Wednesday on gun smuggling charges. They appeared Friday before U.S. Magistrate Peter E. Ormsby in McAllen, who ordered them held without bond pending a detention hearing next week.

The probe into the gun smuggling attempt was led by special agents of Homeland Security Investigations.

Court documents state the group met in the parking lot of a Rio Grande Valley sports store with a person they believed would help them get the guns.

According to the documents, from Feb. 27 to March 5, Camacho and Leal conspired with the undercover ATF agent to purchase the seven weapons that would be taken into Mexico.

The group met with the agent on Wednesday at the Academy Sports and Outdoors store in Edinburg with $17,000 in cash. After the money and the guns were exchanged, the group were arrested, court documents state. A total of $27,000 was seized.

Authorities report Camacho and Cantu were arrested at scene, and Leal and Rodriguez fled on foot but were arrested shortly afterward.

After the arrests, Camacho told the agents the weapons were destined for Mexico and that she did not have a license to export them, the documents state. Also, documents state, Cantu said he knew he was going to a “gun deal” and he said the weapons were going to a “stash house” and later would be loaded onto a tractor-trailer rig.

In addition, Cantu admitted to knowing the guns were to be smuggled to Mexico, according to court documents.

The case is being investigated by the HSI, the Border Enforcement Security Task Force and the ATF.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/local/article_bfad0dc4-a671-11e3-9ee9-0017a43b2370.html