Mexicans Arrested in El Paso Weapons Sting

By Bruce Daniels
ABQnewsSeeker
Tuesday, 14 April 2009 07:00

Two men from Guadalajara accused of trying to buy $2 million worth of weapons, ammunition.

Two men from Guadalajara, Mexico, are accused of trying to buy $2 million worth of weapons and ammunition from undercover agents in El Paso, the El Paso Times reported.

Osvaldo Tostado Gonzalez, 31, and Gabriel Gonzalez Gonzalez, 38, allegedly planned to smuggle automatic weapons and other firearms into Mexico, Leticia Zamarripa, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told the Times.

The men were arrested Saturday by members of the Border Enforcement Security Task Force when they met at an east side parking lot with undercover agents to negotiate a price for the weapons, Zamarripa told the paper.

Tostado and Gonzalez allegedly had a list to buy 300 AR-15 or AR-16 rifles, 10 .50-caliber rifles, 300 short-barreled .223 rifles, two 40mm grenade machine guns and 20 handguns with silencers, authorities said.

Whether the men are connected to Mexican drug cartels is still under investigation, but the firearms list includes weaponry favored by warring drug traffickers, police told the Times.

Both men made an initial appearance Monday before a federal magistrate and are scheduled for a detention hearing on Thursday, the paper reported.

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