June 10, 2008

Targeting weapon traffickers: U.S., Mexico boost effort to stop flow of firearms to drug cartels

June 9, 2008, 11:32PM
Targeting weapon traffickers
U.S., Mexico boost effort to stop flow of firearms to drug cartels


By DANE SCHILLER
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle


Taking aim at a flood of weapons smuggled from the United States into Mexico and into the hands of warring drug-cartel gangsters, officials from both countries vowed Monday to do more to take on traffickers.

Weapons smuggling is not new, but the flow has increased dramatically in recent years, Julie Myers, an assistant secretary for Homeland Security, said Monday.

"What was once a drip or even a steady but manageable flow has swelled to become an all out tidal wave," said Myers, who was in town for a three-day closed door conference on border security.

"Make no mistake, the situation is dire," said Myers, who oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.

The weapons, including machine guns and high-powered handguns, are the weapons of choice for cartel soldiers who have slaughtered rival gangsters as well as police and government officials.

The talk comes as the Bush administration seeks congressional and public support for a $500 million anti-drug aid package to help President Felipe Calderon battle the cartels and defend the rule of law.

The number one origin for weapons found in Mexico is Texas, and the number one city is Houston, said Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials, noting that the connection was a natural given geographic proximity and the prevalence of weapons here.

To solidify their efforts, U.S. and Mexican officials Monday bolstered the ongoing Operation Armas Cruzadas, which translates as Smuggled Weapons. The operation's tactics, which include the muscle of various agencies, aren't obvious to the general public.

But they do include the establishment of a new team of about two dozen Mexican federal agents who have passed lie detector tests and background checks, and who will be dedicated exclusively to working with U.S. officials to stop the flow of weapons.

Additionally, the two governments are setting up a secure Internet-based system that will allow them to immediately share information on weapons, whether they are recovered while stockpiled in a storage shed in Houston or used on the streets of Mexico.

Juan Jose Bravo Moises, head of Mexico's customs service, said his government plans to fully cooperate.

"I think we'll have even better results," he said, noting that so far this year his government's agents have seized 125 guns and $4.6 million in cash being sneaked into Mexico.

The idea is to quickly determine where the weapons are from and who is using them as well as how they might have got them, officials said.

Previous joint-cooperation efforts haven't always gone smoothly.

A weapon used to murder officers in the town of Acapulco last year was believed to have been purchased in Houston.

When federal agents knocked on the door of the Houston home where the gun was supposedly registered, the owner still had the weapon. Mexican agents got the serial number wrong.

A common technique to get weapons into Mexico is to have people with clean records purchase them in the United States and then, after being paid a fee, hand them off, said Dewey Webb, special agent in charge of the ATF's Houston division.

Myers said Operation Armas Cruzadas is a step in the right direction.

"The landscape of weapons smuggling has changed dramatically in the last few years," she said. "It is time for the good guys to take control."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5828418.html

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