EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A man and a woman have a date in U.S. district court next week after allegedly trying to buy a machine gun, three high-powered rifles and grenades from undercover agents in New Mexico.
Fernando Espino Oritz, Perla Janeth Ruiz Lozano and two minors crossed into the U.S. from Palomas, Mexico, last Wednesday and headed to Albuquerque in a blue Dodge Durango carrying $100,000 in undeclared cash, court records show.
Espino allegedly was to be paid $5,000 by a “weapons broker” in Mexico to pick up three M249 rifles and an M134 machine gun – a multi-barrel firearm often referred to as a “minigun” – from two black market gun dealers in Albuquerque. The military version of the M134 is often mounted on helicopters.
Federal, local authorities launch bid to combat illegal machine gun conversions
The deal originally also involved the purchase of a crate of 30 grenades, but the Mexican source couldn’t come up with enough cash for that.
According to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, the U.S. dealers turned out to be undercover agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The agents had been communicating with the Mexican buyer since Sept. 3 and when the “deal” was finalized, the buyer said he would send associates to pick up the load.