AZMEX EXTRA 3-10-18

AZMEX EXTRA 3 OCT 2018

Note: update from story of a few days ago.
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Leader of gun-running ring gets 10 years in prison
Nogales International 14 hrs ago

https://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/leader-of-gun-running-ring-gets-years-in-prison/article_472d8cd2-c69e-11e8-93c4-9f7c7ef479c0.html

A Mexican man who authorities say was the leader of an organization that smuggled military-grade weapons into Mexico via a sporting goods store and storage facility in Nogales was sentenced last week to 10 years in federal prison.

Luis Enrique Beltran, 41, of Culiacan, Sinaloa had previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to unlawfully export – and aiding and abetting the unlawful possession of – machine guns, grenades and grenade launchers. He was extradited from Mexico to the United States in November 2017 to face charges at U.S. District Court in Tucson and sentenced on Sept. 25.

Court records show that in February 2011, Beltran asked an associate in the United States to help him acquire 500 grenades and a rifle. An informant helped an undercover ATF agent make contact with him, and Beltran reportedly told the agent that he was looking for a long-term relationship by which to acquire military weapons.

That investigation led Homeland Security Investigations to begin surveilling a sporting goods store in Nogales operated by Javier Francisco Garayzar. Beginning in July 2011 and continuing into March 2012, Garayzar reportedly obtained weapons and ammo at his store for unlawful export to Beltran in Mexico through intermediaries including Ramon Gamez Sanchez and Angel Gamez Sanchez.

Court documents show that the investigation of Garayzar's business led to the seizure of 33,593 rounds of ammunition, 100 AK-47 rifle magazines, 60 pistol magazines and 36 assault rifle magazines, among other weaponry.

An additional 10,790 rounds of ammo were seized from a Nogales storage facility used by co-conspirators including Katherine Murray Fleischer, according to the documents.


Garayzar was indicted in May 2012 and a follow-up indictment in July 2012 added Garayzar, the Gamezes, Fleischer and Beltran. The co-defendants other than Beltran later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to smuggle goods from the United States.

Angel Gamez was sentenced to 27 months prison in January 2014 and a month later, Ramon Gamez was sentenced to 41 months prison. According to a government memo, Ramon Gamez admitted that he had been smuggling ammunition on behalf of Beltran for the previous five years, and that Beltran was affiliated with the Sinaloa, Mexico-based Beltran Leyva drug cartel.

In April 2015, Garayzar was sentenced to four years of probation as part of a plea deal that also called for him to forfeit $85,893.

Katherine Murray Fleischer was sentenced to a year in prison in September 2016.


In a sentencing memorandum filed prior to Beltran's sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Woolridge called his conduct "extremely serious."
"He conspired to unlawfully export into Mexico hundreds of extremely dangerous weapons – including fully automatic assault rifles, grenades and grenade launchers – and to put these deadly weapons in the hands of cartel members," she wrote. "The potential devastation that could have been caused by these weapons is staggering."

Woolridge also noted that Beltran had been smuggling large volumes of ammo and magazines into Mexico for "several years."

"These weapons are presumably in the hands of members of the cartel with which the defendant is associated, where the potential for harm from the weapons is limitless. The defendant's actions threaten the safety of countless others in both his home country of Mexico and here in the United States," she wrote.

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