Federal Agents Say Valley Hot Spot for Gun Trafficking

Reported by: Erica Proffer
Last Update: 7:49 am

MCALLEN - The Valley is a prime spot for smuggling guns into Mexico.

Robert Champion is the ATF special agent in charge of Dallas.

"You have guys that are money man, one guy is in charge of getting the straw purchasers," he says.

Champion says the ATF is now seeing a change in the way the cartel operates. Instead of buying weapons locally they're getting them from all over the country and using the drug routes in reverse to get them back to Mexico.

"The straw purchasers will come back to the guy that gave them the money. He accumulates the firearms. Another individual comes as the transporter to pick up the firearms and move them to different locations," says Champion.

A gun could move from stash house to stash house for weeks before going back to Mexico.Once they get into Mexico they're sold for double and sometimes triple the purchase price.

Champion says the ATF can't do much to stop the transport. That's the same office that's under fire for letting thousands of guns cross the border.

http://www.krgv.com/news/local/story/Fe ... ndtuA.cspx