EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Two U.S. citizens living in Mexico are being charged with providing false information in the purchase of six AK-47 style rifles and three fifth-generation Glock pistols and smuggling the guns across the border.
Wednesday’s indictment in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona alleges Jose Antonio Castro and Jorge Antonio Navarrete Milan knowingly made false statements in connection with the purchase of a firearm. The indictment further alleges Castro unlawfully exported guns to Mexico.
The charges stem from an investigation launched after Castro, Navarrete and a third individual entered the United States via the San Luis, Arizona, port of entry on Nov. 23. The men said they had nothing to declare but a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer checked their documents and found that Castro had a previous arrest for migrant smuggling, court records show.
The CBP officer sent the men’s vehicle, a Kia Optima, to secondary inspection. There, another officer found a layaway receipt for a .50-caliber rifle from the Yuma, Arizona, Sprague’s Sports gun store. Because the men stated they were living in Mexico and that country has very strict gun laws, CBP notified Homeland Security Investigations and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (AFT) about the find, court records show.
A Yuma gun dealer a day later notified ATF that Castro and Navarrete had purchased guns. An HSI anti-terrorism and contraband enforcement team set up on the southbound lanes of the San Luis border crossing and stopped the vehicle driven by Castro. Court records show federal agents found two 9mm Glock guns under the seats of the car.
Two HSI agents interviewed Castro and asked him if he knew why they had him in custody. Castro allegedly responded, “(Because of) the Glocks.” A criminal complaint filed Nov. 24 states Castro told agents he purchased the guns on behalf of a man in Mexico that goes by the alias of “Chikilin.”
Castro told agents he made “four or five trips” from Mexico to Arizona to purchase firearms for Chikilin which he usually handed off to couriers in San Luis or Somerton, records show. Castro allegedly said he received $1,000 from Chikilin for each firearm and his payment was “the change” from each purchase.
ATF agents investigated firearms purchases in Yuma and allegedly linked nine sales to Castro between Oct. 18 and Nov. 24. They include: Five Century Arms VSKA 7.32 x 39 caliber rifles, a RAK-47 rifle and three Glock pistols, court records show.
The manufacturer’s suggested retail price for a VSKA is $799.99; a Glock G19 Gen5 goes for up to $657.99, according to online gun store portals.
Navarrete is being charged with making false statements in connection with the purchase of three unspecified firearms from the Jones & Jones gun store in Yuma. Court records show the purchase of another firearm only described as a long gun or rifle –possibly the .50-caliber — was pending.
Making false statements in the purchase of a firearm carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison; so does smuggling guns from the United States, according to the US Code.
Read: Read More