ATF: Juarez hit men using El Paso weapons in drug war

By Daniel Borunda / For the Sun-News
Article Launched: 05/22/2008 06:12:21 AM MDT

EL PASO —High-powered rifles and handguns used by drug cartel hit men waging a bloody war in Mexico have been traced to suspected gun smugglers in El Paso, an ATF agent testified Wednesday at a federal detention hearing in El Paso.

Money and weapons flowing from the United States fuel drug trafficking and organized crime in Mexico, to the tune of about $10 billion a year, Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, Mexico's deputy federal attorney general for international affairs, said Wednesday as representatives from the U.S. and Mexico gathered in Austin to discuss border security.

It was the profits from illegal gun sales that allegedly motivated Juan Carlos Meza, 23, to sell at least 19 firearms bought at El Paso gun stores to suspected hit men, an ATF agent testified at the detention hearing for Meza in the federal courthouse in El Paso.

Meza, who is a citizen of Mexico but a legal resident of El Paso, was denied bond Wednesday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Norbert Garney, who described Meza as a potential flight risk and a "danger" because of the nature of the crime.

Meza's lawyer, William Maynard, had argued that Meza, who had apparently worked as a security guard, should be granted bond because he grew up in El Paso, had a telemarketing job lined up and didn't flee when he knew he was under investigation.

The detention hearing for Meza's co-defendant, Roberto Marquez, 21, is set for today.

Special Agent Frank Henderson of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives testified that the investigation began when firearms recovered after a deadly shootout Sept. 27, 2006, in Chihuahua City were traced to an El Paso gun store.

The Chihuahua City shootout left at least one man dead and led to the seizure of weapons, phony police uniforms and other equipment at a safe house, according to news reports in Mexico.

A review of paperwork at the gun shop showed that Meza allegedly paid about $4,000 cash on each of two visits in early September, less than a month before the shootout, Henderson said. One purchase was all in $5 bills and the second all in $10 bills. Meza allegedly lied on required purchase forms, claiming that he was a U.S. citizen and that the weapons were for himself.

When questioned by ATF agents, Meza told them that he wasn't involved in the shooting in Chihuahua City.

"He initially claimed to have been kidnapped by hit men for the cartel and forced to buy the guns to save his life," Henderson said. But Meza failed a polygraph test and then allegedly told investigators he sold the firearms for profit to sicarios, or hit men, Henderson said.

One of the buyers was among assassins later captured when they went to try to kill a business owner at Las Misiones Mall in Juárez, Henderson said.

On at least two occasions, on the same day the guns were bought, the weapons were handed over to be transported into Mexico at a Burger King parking lot near the Bridge of the Americas in El Paso, the indictment stated.

Meza and Marquez were arrested last week after being indicted on charges of conspiracy, smuggling and making false statement during the purchase of a firearms in the fall of 2006. The weapons included 9-mm pistols and .50-caliber rifles.

Firearms in Mexico can sell for four to six times the price they were purchased for in the U.S., ATF agents have said. The powerful .50-caliber rifle has become a much-sought weapon by Mexican drug traffickers for its ability to pierce bulletproof vehicles.

The Meza case is one of several recent gun smuggling busts in El Paso and other parts of the border by ATF agents as the U.S. government has increased funding and staffing to investigate weapons smuggling into Mexico.


Daniel Borunda reports for the El Paso TImes, a member of the Texas-New Mexico Newspapers Partnership, and may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com

http://www.lcsun-news.com/news/ci_9344660