George Iknadosian, 46, knowingly sold at least 650 firearms, including high-end semiautomatic pistols and assault-style rifles, to drug cartels, the ATF said.arrest of a gun shop owner on Tuesday broke up a suspected firearms trafficking operation that supplied violent Mexican drug cartels, authorities said.
Agents raided X Calibur Guns and arrested George Iknadosian after undercover agents bought guns at the store indicating they were to be trafficked to Mexico, said Carlos Baixauli, a special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.The investigation began 11 months ago after some guns involved in crimes in Mexico were traced to X Caliber Guns in Phoenix, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said.Also arrested were two Mexican brothers who are accused of recruiting "straw buyers" to purchase weapons at X Calibur Guns that would then be trafficked to the drug cartels.Hugo Gamez, 26, and Cesar Gamez, 28, were legally living in the Phoenix metro area, but Baixauli said the brothers worked for a major Mexican drug cartel."This is not just taking guns to Mexico," Phoenix police Asst. Chief Andy Anderson said. "This is putting guns in the hands of drug dealers and human smugglers ... This is a despicable crime."The three men in custody face charges including conducting an illegal enterprise, misconduct involving weapons, money laundering, forgery and fraudulent schemes. It wasn't clear whether they had lawyers."The bottom line is illegal gun trafficking is not only destroying Mexico, but some of these guns may get back to the United States," Baixauli said. "It puts our law enforcement officers in danger, and in Mexico, it decimates law enforcement."
Wednesday 7 May 2008
George Iknadosian knowingly sold at least 650 firearms, including high-end semiautomatic pistols and assault-style rifles, to drug cartels
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3 comments:
The real problem is that the US governments insists that Mexico not legalize drugs.
The US government has caused this drug war on purpose because with a drug war they can trample on our rights as they have since the drug war started.
The situation is not unlike Chicago during the prohibition.
The real problem here is the US government which created this whole situation by strong arming Mexico into keeping drugs illegal.
Mexicans have long known the real problem is the drug laws...
It's not about drug laws. It's about drug use. The casual drug culture is putting billions of dollars per year in the hands of the most dangerously sociopathic people on the planet.
The Second Amendment protects the rights of American gun owners (but not Mexican). There is no protection for illegal drug users and in my opinion, there should not be.
One criminal gun dealer does not mean the system is flawed, nor does it mean we need to further restrict the Second Amendment. We need to elminate the drug culture. We don't need to eliminate the Second Amendment.
I am glad they caught him, and I hope he spends the rest of his life in jail. Better yet, does Arizona still have the death penalty?
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