Hundreds of firearms seized in raid of north Phoenix gun store
33 commentsby Sean Holstege - May. 6, 2008 12:01 PM
The Arizona Republic
Federal agents raided a north Phoenix gun store Tuesday as police arrested its owner and two Mexican men who are accused of trafficking hundreds of weapons to drug cartels south of the border.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents said X-Caliber Guns store owner George Iknadosian was aware he was selling weapons to drug cartels. He was arrested at his Glendale home and is accused of fraud, money laundering and running an illegal enterprise.

Phoenix and Mesa police arrested two brothers whom they accuse of gun running: Hugo Gamez and Cesar Gamez, who live in the Valley. They are Mexican citizens who live in the United States as legal residents.

Tuesday's action caps an 11-month undercover investigation. The bust is noteworthy because agents rarely target gun stores and because they are certain that 650 weapons, including around 250 AK-47 replicas, ended up in the hands of the Sinaloa cartel. One specialized handgun was traced to X-Caliber when the Mexican army arrested the cartel's most senior enforcer, Alfredo Beltran Leyva in Culiacán in January.

Agents spent the morning sifting through records at the store on North Cave Creek Road south of Cactus Road. They were looking for evidence of further alleged gun sales to the Gamez brothers or whether Iknadosian had ties to other suspected gun runners.

The Arizona Attorney General's Office is expected to release further details at a 2 p.m. press conference.

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