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Mexico arrests figure in Fast and Furious gun-smuggling scandal
Los Angeles Times ^ | February 7, 2012 | Los Angeles Times

Posted on 02/07/2012 7:05:38 PM PST by DogByte6RER

Mexico arrests figure in Fast and Furious gun-smuggling scandal

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REPORTING FROM MEXICO CITY -- Mexican authorities have arrested a reputed enforcer for the country's most powerful drug cartel -- a man also alleged to have amassed weapons from the U.S. government's failed Fast and Furious gun-smuggling operation (link, in Spanish, includes video).

Jose Antonio Torres Marrufo, 33, is also wanted by U.S. officials on drug-trafficking charges in El Paso. Mexican and U.S. authorities say he served as a top lieutenant to Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and the Sinaloa Cartel and was in charge of operations in the border state of Chihuahua (link in Spanish).

It was there, in the violent city of Ciudad Juarez, that a raid by Mexican police in April 2011 turned up high-powered assault guns purchased illegally through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives "Fast and Furious" program. As the Washington Bureau's Richard A. Serrano reported last fall, the discovery confirmed that Fast and Furious weapons were reaching the ruthless Sinaloa organization and that the geographic spread of the "walked" guns was wider than originally thought.

Mexican federal police said they tracked Torres Marrufo to a recently acquired home in Leon, in central Mexico, and captured him and a bodyguard over the weekend. In a statement, which did not mention the Fast and Furious connection, police said Torres was wanted in connection with numerous crimes including murder, extortion, kidnapping and the sale and distribution of drugs. The statement did not indicate whether Torres resisted arrest.

He was also accused of masterminding the September 2009 massacre of 18 people at a drug rehabilitation clinic in Ciudad Juarez.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Government; Mexico; News/Current Events; US: Arizona; US: California; US: New Mexico; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: arizona; atf; banglist; batfe; california; dea; dhs; doj; drugcartels; ericholder; fastandfurious; fbi; gunrunner; gunwalker; guzman; holder; joaquinguzman; josemarrufo; marrufo; mexico; newmexico; obama; sinaloacartel; texas; torresmarrufo
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On deck for a Mexican prison cell ...

1 posted on 02/07/2012 7:05:44 PM PST by DogByte6RER
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To: DogByte6RER
Captured along with Torres Marrufo were two assault rifles and two automatic pistols

Big whoopi deal. 2 AK's and 2 pistols. High traffic arms merchant. LA Times Holder puff piece.

2 posted on 02/07/2012 7:13:31 PM PST by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: DogByte6RER

We can only hope.

At some point, the Democrats will tire of protecting him. It’s only a matter of time.

They always turn on their own. Loyalty is for little people.


3 posted on 02/07/2012 7:13:47 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults.)
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To: MestaMachine; Nachum

Arrest in F&F albiet small arrest ???? PING


4 posted on 02/07/2012 7:14:54 PM PST by simplesimon (" God doesn't call the qualifed , He qualifes the CALLED! ".. FReeper TomasUSMC...)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks DogByte6RER.


5 posted on 02/07/2012 7:29:10 PM PST by SunkenCiv (FReep this FReepathon!)
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To: DogByte6RER

So now they can get him out of the public eye.


6 posted on 02/07/2012 7:43:58 PM PST by TribalPrincess2U (NOT VOTING gets 0bamao re-elected. Lets Newter the RINOS, then the Blank.)
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To: DogByte6RER

They need to stop calling it “U.S. government’s failed Fast and Furious gun-smuggling operation.” It did not fail. It did exactly what the Obama administration wanted it to which was to arm the drug cartels and create chaos on the boarder in order to blame the 2nd amendment and re-institute an assault weapons ban or other gun control here in the US.

The only way it failed is that we found out about it.


7 posted on 02/07/2012 7:44:37 PM PST by A. Patriot (Have we lost our Republic? Do the majority of Americans care?)
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To: DogByte6RER
failed Fast and Furious gun-smuggling operation

It seems to me that the operation successfully smuggled a ton of guns to criminals in Mexico.
8 posted on 02/07/2012 7:45:01 PM PST by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: Joe Brower; Travis McGee; LucyT; vette6387; MetaThought; 60Gunner; XHogPilot; FreedomPoster; ...

AND...we have a loser! Ping.


9 posted on 02/07/2012 11:22:36 PM PST by MestaMachine (obama kills)
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To: DogByte6RER

It would seem Torres-Marrufo is a walking dead man with powerful players on both sides of the border fearful of what he knows.


10 posted on 02/08/2012 12:32:55 AM PST by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: DogByte6RER
WOW! Great picture!! I can't wait to get out the dart board and use that for the bullseye.

Thanks!
11 posted on 02/08/2012 7:36:05 AM PST by TheOldLady (FReepmail me to get ON or OFF the ZOT LIGHTNING ping list)
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To: MestaMachine

Mexicans... Doing the job our FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REFUSES to do. THAT’s why they don’t get it that REAL AMERICANS aren’t “above” hard work, either! If I were Holder I’d stay far away from the border because I think a few folks down there would like to introduce him to their “little friends” right about now.


12 posted on 02/08/2012 1:16:24 PM PST by LibertyRocks
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To: DogByte6RER

From your lips to the MEXICAN FEDERALES ears!!! I have long thought that only the Mexican Government would be able to prosecute this scandal adequately due to the corruption in our own country that allowed this to occur in the first place.

I pray the Mexicans can link Holder and Obama tangibly, but I don’t realistically see the US agreeing to extradite them to Mexico - do you? (Not that I don’t think it appropriate for Holder and Obama to be held responsible for these deaths - just that we can’t allow a precedent like that to be set for ANY of our Presidents or cabinet members. That’s what the left wanted for Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfield remember...


13 posted on 02/08/2012 1:23:07 PM PST by LibertyRocks
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To: All

Media Silent As Mexico Arrests Key Figure In Fast and Furious

Posted By Mary Chastain On February 13, 2012

I think late January and February have been the busiest time for Operation Fast & Furious. The media still doesn’t give it proper coverage, especially this news: On February 4th, Mexico arrests a key figure in Fast & Furious. Not only is he a key person in Fast & Furious, but he was also a top lieutenant to El Chapo. I first found out about it on Borderland Beat [1], a great website keeping us up to date about the drug war in Mexico. The Los Angeles Times [2] reported it on February 7th and my colleague AWR Hawkins [3] published commenrary on February 8th. Silence from media.

This is HUGE for Mexico and for us. The suspect is Jose Antonio Torres Marrufo aka “El Marrufo” or “El Jaguar.” He was the head of la Gente Nueva in Chihuahua and the Sinaloa cartel’s top man in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico’s most dangerous city.

He was also wanted in the US for drug trafficking and the recipient of high powered weapons from Operation Fast and Furious. He owned the home that was raided in April 2011 that had the guns from Fast & Furious.

This is GREAT news for everyone in America and Mexico, including Mr. Holder — yet I don’t hear anything from the media. A Google search yielded just three actual posts on this subject.

Thank you LA Times for reporting this, but this is another case that confirms my suspicions: If the AP doesn’t write about it the majority of the Old Media will ignore it.

http://bigjournalism.com/mchastain/2012/02/13/media-silent-as-mexico-arrests-key-figure-in-fast-and-furious/#more-270340


14 posted on 02/13/2012 6:56:14 AM PST by DogByte6RER ("Loose lips sink ships")
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