Nation

Police seize arms cache bound for drug cartel

NOGALES, Sonora - U.S. and Mexican officials are investigating a heavy weapons cache discovered in this border town that police believe was headed south to arm drug cartels. In a late Wednesday search of a Nogales home, police found an anti-tank warhead, six hand grenades and more than 1,200 rounds of ammunition, Nogales Police Chief Ramses Arce Fierro said Friday. Officers also found an empty missile tube for a larger sized shoulder-fired weapon, he said. A task force of FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents were working with Mexican federal investigators to determine if the weapons were live ammunition, ATF Special Agent Tom Mangan said. The grenades were pre-Vietnam War pineapple grenades, although they still could be effective, he said. One missile tube held an anti-tank shoulder-fired missile head inside, and another was missing its missile head, Arce Fierro said. The 10-year-old steel boxes in which more than 1,200 7.62-mm rounds were stored were stamped "Fort Huachuca," but there have not been any bullets or weapons reported stolen from the post, spokeswoman Tanja Linton said. She speculated someone could have purchased the ammunition boxes at a surplus store or gun show. Arce Fierro said his investigators are certain the weapons were headed to southern Sonora or Sinaloa, where several other recent incidents involving heavy weaponry have occurred. "It was going to be used to arm drug cartels, for sure," he said. "Who else is interested in buying a rocket launcher?" Mexican law forbids people from even carrying pistols without special permission from the military, and Southern Arizona - notorious for illegal entrants and drugs moving north - also is home to weapons heading south. The weapons seizure came as the result of an anonymous tip to Nogales police. It follows several violent attacks in Sonora believed to involve drug gangs such as the Juárez Cartel. Last week, suspected drug traffickers pinned down Mexican police in Ciudad Obregon with AK-47s, then used a grenade launcher to drive away police when they reached the Sinaloa border. In another incident, a suspect fired on Mexican Federal Investigations Agents on the Alamos-Navojoa highway. The gunman was shot in the back and arrested. Also, U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Douglas area reported coming under fire three times the past week. Nobody was apprehended when police went to the home in Colonia Benito Juarez with a warrant. Arce Fierro declined to identify the residents, saying they were under investigation by federal agents. The traffickers of the weapons cache likely were not working for a drug gang, but rather selling to the highest bidder once they reached their destination, he said. He doubted the weapons would have been used against his own officers because Nogales is a popular corridor for weapons heading into Mexico and officers have never confronted a hand grenade or a "bazooka" there before. The large caliber of the seized ammunition is rarely used by cartels, said Phil Jordan, former director of the El Paso Intelligence Center, the federal nerve center to tracking of cross-border drugs and people movement. "However, putting it into perspective, based on the pressure put on them right now, it does not surprise me this type of weaponry is being used by cartels and that presents a significant problem," Jordan said. "To have this type of arsenal in the hands of drug cartels is not good for law enforcement." Since January, when President Vicente Fox declared the "mother of all battles" against the drug gangs, the country has used its most powerful asset, its military, to take on drug traffickers in Tamaulipas and in Mexico City, where their presence was most felt. But even before that, ATF agents seized many types of weapons headed south, Mangan said. Last July, undercover agents arrested Sergio Noriega, a Mexican national who tried to buy 30 fragmentation grenades in Chandler. He told the agents he was buying them for a southern Sonora cartel, Mangan said. He remains in custody, awaiting trial. Last October, three men were arrested with AK-47s, one in Douglas, where he tried to smuggle AK-47 parts back to Mexico. Joel Ruiz Castillo faces illegal weapons exporting charges and is in custody. The next day, ATF raided a home in the 5700 block of E. 24th Street in Tucson and arrested a second suspect, Richard Rod-riguez, and seized 20 AK-47s. Rodriguez remains in custody. A third suspect, Edward Porras, is accused of buying the AK-47s for Rodriguez and Ruiz Castillo. Porras is out on bail, Mangan said. Those AK-47s were heading to Mexico as well, he said. Last week, a gun smuggler from Douglas was convicted of trying to export more than 100 guns to Mexico without a license. A federal jury in Phoenix found Luis Demetrio Drabos, 25, guilty, and he faces up to five years in prison. Drabos and four others were planning to export more than 100 guns to Mexico without a license, according to evidence presented at his trial. The group spent more than $50,000 to purchase the weapons - including AK-47s and .50-caliber handguns - from licensed dealers in Arizona. The gun-smuggling ring fell apart when three conspirators tried to pay an undercover ATF agent to sell them an unregistered machine gun equipped with a silencer.