Feds arrest NM mayor, police chief, and others for gun running

Dr. Michael Williams

March 11, 2011

 

Albuquerque, NM) According to documents filed in U.S. District Court Thursday, Columbus, New Mexico Mayor Eddie Espinoza, Police Chief Angelo Vega, and Trustee Blas Gutierrez were among nearly a dozen suspects including a Mexican national charged with being part of an effort to smuggle weapons, ammunition, and body armor into Mexico.

The suspects, arrested by Federal, State, and local authorities, were charged after an extensive investigation involving officials on both sides of the border.  One suspect, 24-year-old Ignacio Villalobos, escaped arrest and is still at large.

The arrest comes after a long term investigation going back many months, which included an incident last October when Mayor Espinoza tried to block federal agents with his car while he called Chief Vega to come and question the agents.

Also arrested was gun shop owner, Ian Garland, who is accused of selling the guns to other suspects who claimed they were buying them for themselves. The guns were in fact purchased by the suspects on behalf of others in Mexico. About a dozen of the weapons were later discovered in Mexico. The weapons were AK 47 type and 9 mm purchased going back to January 2010.

The arrests come on the heels of recent reports of Mexican officials demanding answers about weapons being tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms that were responsible for the deaths of nearly 150 Mexicans.  The weapons were part of a tracking program, Operation Fast and Furious, of weapons sold in Arizona and tracked into Mexico where they were recovered during crime scene investigations.

One of the weapons involved in the operation was suspected to have been used in the killing of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata in February. The weapon was allegedly being tracked by the BATF after being purchased by the suspects in October. In November the suspects being tracked who purchased the weapon were stopped by local police, but not arrested.

The has led to congressional inquiries as to why the BATF was allowing the smugglers being tracked to continue to smuggle weapons, which were being used in the killings, which possibly included Agent Zapata.

The case illustrates how officials entrusted with the security of the public can be enticed by lucrative incentives to run an inside job to betray that trust.


http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-national/feds-arrest-nm-mayor-police-chief-and-others-for-gun-running#ixzz1GHjWxGqF