Posted on 09/29/2009 3:35:49 PM PDT by The Magical Mischief Tour
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Five Guatemalan nationals have been indicted on gun smuggling charges after a year long investigation in Nashville. One of the men was a former Metro police officer.
Several agencies were involved in the investigation including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Metro Nashville Police Department and U.S. Attorney's Office.
Officials named Julio Cesar Rojas-Lopez, Donald Efren Franco, Denis Franco, Luis Armando Monterroso Pineda and Edwing Ronal Morales in the indictment. Morales was a police trainee since April 2007. His employment was terminated Sept. 15, 2009.
Rojas-Lopez reportedly recruited the other four men to buy firearms. The men reportedly bought 23 firearms, and 18 of those were smuggled into Guatemala. The remaining 5 firearms were seized by authorities.
The suspects allegedly worked with members of Lorenzana and Mendoza Drug Cartels to determine which weapons to purchase and when to send them to Guatemala. The weapons were purchased from gun dealers in Middle Tennessee.
The men turned themselves into authorities on Tuesday.
The investigation was part of an ICE-led bi-lateral program called "Armas Cruzadas."
But Police-men and Government-agents NEVER break the law! [/sarc][/cynic]
“Officials named Julio Cesar Rojas-Lopez, Donald Efren Franco, Denis Franco, Luis Armando Monterroso Pineda and Edwing Ronal Morales in the indictment”
No Smith, Jones, Miller humm must be a racist thing.
So, he was both a Guatemalan national and a Metro police officer, eh?
Legal residents are eligible whether or not naturalized citizens.
Kind of like foreigners can sign up in the US military services.
I don’t know if it would even be legal (under current screwy regime) to ban them.
That said, why did they want the guns in Guatemala? A lot of folks in Mexico and Central America are getting guns because they want to defend themselves against the endemic drug cartels and other crime. The way of getting them was wrong, but not necessarily the intended use.
Do I really want to know how many millions of dollars were spent on a year long investigation that busted five smuggled guns?
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