Thread: ATF forms teams in 7 cities to stop gun smuggling

ATF forms teams in 7 cities to stop gun smuggling

By JACQUES BILLEAUD (AP) – 15 hours ago

PHOENIX — A federal agency trying to stop guns from being smuggled from the United States into Mexico for use by drug cartels has formed teams in seven American cities to combat the problem.

The teams set up by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are a follow-up to earlier temporary groups of investigators who worked in Houston and Arizona and seized about 2,000 guns.

The permanent 10-member teams will be based in two cities in the border region — in Brownsville, Texas, and Sierra Vista, Ariz. — and away from the border where smugglers have set up trafficking routes and recruit gun buyers in Dallas, Las Vegas, Oklahoma City, Atlanta and Miami.

"We can't put all of our resources in one point, because what we learned from other agencies is that if you put all resources to go after illegal activity in one point, guess what? It goes some place else," said Kenneth Melson, ATF's deputy director.

Many guns used by criminals in the Mexican government's war against drug cartels are bought in the United States, the bureau says. Cartels recruit "straw buyers" in the United States who make purchases on their behalf and then pay people to bring the weapons across the border.

Agents on the teams will inspect records at firearms shops, investigate suspicious purchases and use traces from guns recovered in Mexico to track down straw buyers.

Melson said a team will be based in the southern Arizona city of Sierra Vista because the Sinaloa drug cartel uses the area as a transit route.

Dennis Burke, the U.S. attorney for Arizona, said his state has become the gun locker for the cartels and warned of the serious consequences for people who buy guns on behalf of cartel members.

"For a lot of these straw purchasers, they don't think it's a big deal," Burke said. "They think it's like buying beer for an underaged kid, but it's not. It's an offense that violates federal law, and it's leading to deadly consequences in Mexico."

Melson said the teams that operated in Houston for 120 days in 2009 and in Arizona and New Mexico for a similar length of time ending on Aug. 6 helped make a dent in the problem.

But how big of an impact is unknown. The agency said it's difficult to say how many guns from America are sneaked into Mexico.

ATF said Texas and Arizona are the two largest sources of guns that were seized in Mexico and had complete traces run on them. Not all seized guns in Mexico are traced.

Of the 2,000 guns seized by both temporary teams, two-thirds were in Arizona. None were seized by the temporary team that worked in New Mexico, where investigators focused on inspecting records at gun stores.

The new teams were funded by the $37 million that ATF recently received from Congress for combating gun smuggling along the southern border.

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Sierra Vista plays key role in new border gunrunning crackdown

Sat, 09/18/2010 - 00:01
By Derek Jordan
Herald/Review

SIERRA VISTA — The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is stepping up its effort to stop the flow of illegal guns flowing into Mexico and into the hands of drug cartels. The agency is setting up specialized teams along known trafficking hubs and routes, including Sierra Vista.

Project Gunrunner will establish teams in seven U.S. cities: Atlanta, Dallas, Brownsville, Texas, Las Vegas, Miami, Oklahoma City and Sierra Vista.

The move is a follow-up to the ATF’s Gun Runner Impact Team (GRIT) initiative, which saw a 100-day deployment of resources to the Phoenix Field Division, according to the agency.

Officials said the GRIT initiative resulted in “174 firearms trafficking-related criminal investigationsâ€

ATF Recovers 1,300 Firearms in Arizona, Plans to Expand Teams to Curb Guns to Mexico

ATF Operation Claims Intercept of Illegal Weapons Headed for Mexico

17 comments By JASON RYAN
Sept. 17, 2010

With drug violence raging in Mexico, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says a surge in federal agents in Arizona has helped the United States recover about 1,300 firearms in the last 100 days, many of them believed bound for Mexico.

A Texas town totes guns in fear of the rising drug violence in Mexico.Federal law enforcement officials say the success is prompting the ATF to roll out similar techniques in seven additional cities believed to be hotbeds for gun traffickers.

The current operation involved the deployment of a Project Gun Runner Impact Team (GRIT) to combat the deadly flow of weapons from the United States to Mexico's ongoing drug war, which has left more than 28,000 people dead since 2006.

According to U.S. officials, a majority of the guns seized in Mexican crimes are found to be sold in the United States by gun stores in Texas, California and Arizona.

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A recent report by Mayors Against Illegal Guns that used ATF data revealed that, "from 2006 to 2009, nearly 19,000 traced crime guns were originally sold in the U.S. and recovered and traced to Mexican crimes."

Significantly fewer guns are moving through New Mexico, ATF sources said, but drug traffickers and gunrunners are beginning to increase border crossings in the state as violence rages in Mexican cities such as Ciudad Juarez and as southbound screenings are bolstered in some areas.

The approximately 1,300 firearms the ATF recovered in Arizona as part of its operation over the past three months included an array of AK-47-style weapons, 71,000 rounds of ammunition and drugs.

"We are fighting on a crucial front here today to reduce violence in our own communities, and to disrupt and dismantle the southbound supply of weapons to the cartels," U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke said in a prepared statement today.

As part of a recent emergency supplemental funding bill for border security, the ATF will establish similar teams in seven cities considered parts of significant gun trafficking routes -- Atlanta; Dallas; Brownsville, Texas; Las Vegas; Miami; Oklahoma City; and Sierra Vista, Arizona.

The first Gunrunner Impact Team was established in Houston last year after and operated in the region for 120 days, resulting in about 430 weapons being recovered. The idea to establish that team followed an ATF finding in 2007 that more than 330 firearms from the Houston area had been smuggled into Mexico, according to ATF officials. The weapons were traced to multiple crimes including the deaths of 18 law enforcement officers and civilians in Mexico.

During 2006, ATF established Project Gunrunner as the agency noticed an increase in weapons being used in gun crimes as Mexico's drug cartels began to fight against each other.

(AP Photo) The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says a surge in federal agents in Arizona has helped the United States recover about 1,300 firearms believed headed for Mexico in the past 100 days. A majority of the guns seized in Mexican crimes were sold in the U.S. from gun stores in Texas, California and Arizona.

Mexican authorities have asked U.S. officials to increase enforcement on gun crimes in the United States and have urged the Obama administration to reinstitute the assault weapons ban.

Attorney General Eric Holder broached the idea of renewing the ban in February 2009, saying, "I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum." More recently, there has been less talk of reinstituting the ban, which is opposed by many.

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