MCALLEN, Texas—Federal agents arrested two suspected Gulf Cartel arms dealers who are accused of recruiting people with the ability to legally purchase weapons on their behalf so that they can have them shipped to Mexico.
In recent years, the Gulf Cartel has been involved in a series of wars with rival cartels and most recently, as Breitbart Texas previously reported, the criminal organization has been involved in a fierce internal conflict. That fighting has led to an added demand for weapons that cartel members use during their large gun battles.
This week, Lizandro Salvador “Chava” Morales and Juan “Wachin” Hernandez went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Ormsby, who formally charged them with one count of straw purchasing and ordered they be held without bond.
While Hernandez is a U.S. citizen, Morales is an illegal alien, court records obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed.
The case against Morales began last week when agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives spoke with a woman who told them that she had purchased 9 AR-15’s and AK-47’s for a man named Chava and she was paid $200 per rifle. Last Friday the agents set up a surveillance operation where they saw the woman meet with Morales to collect money and then go to a local gun store where she purchased an AK-47 rifle. The agents arrested Morales when he met with the woman to collect the rifle.
The case against Hernandez began last week when agents detained two men purchasing weapons out of a Harlingen sporting goods store. The men told agents that they had bought the weapons for a man named “Wachin.” One of the arrested men told the agents that Hernandez had to meet a quota of weapons.
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