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A number of the weapons seized by the U.S. Division of Justice that a corporation with Southern California ties allegedly obtained to illegally provide them to the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación in Mexico. (Courtesy of the U.S. DOJ)
A Whittier man accused of main a scheme to offer high-powered firearms and ammunition to a Mexican drug cartel has been indicted on federal prices together with 5 different males, the U.S. Division of Justice introduced Monday, Jan. 24.
Marco Antonio Santillan Valencia, 51, of Whittier, was indicted by a federal grand jury on Dec. 21 and brought into custody on Wednesday, Jan. 19, the DOJ mentioned in a press launch. The opposite males indicted included Anthony Marmolejo Aguilar, 30, additionally of Whittier; Marco Santillan Jr., 29, of Pahrump, Nevada; Michael Diaz, 33, of Moreno Valley; Luis De Arcos, 51, of Halfway Metropolis’ and Rafael Magallon Castillo, 34, of Oceano, the press launch mentioned.
Aguilar already was in custody on separate prices in North Carolina whereas Castillo is believed to be a fugitive in Mexico, the DOJ mentioned. Santillan Jr. was arrested in Oregon on Wednesday and Diaz and De Arcos additionally have been taken into custody, the DOJ mentioned.
The defendants face a complete of 23 prices, authorities mentioned.
All males have been charged with conspiracy to violate export administration rules concerning “gadgets that would make a big contribution to the navy potential of different nations” and might be “detrimental to the international coverage or nationwide safety of the USA,” the DOJ mentioned. 5 of the boys have been charged with numerous tried smuggling counts and Santillan Valencia and his son, Santillan Jr., have been charged in a cash laundering conspiracy, in response to the DOJ.
Santillan Valencia, De Arcos and Diaz all entered pleas of not responsible on Wednesday, the DOJ mentioned.
“This case alleges a scheme to offer military-grade firepower to a significant drug trafficking group that commits unspeakable acts of violence in Mexico to additional its objective of flooding the USA with harmful and lethal narcotics,” mentioned United States Lawyer Tracy L. Wilkison.
The arrests have been the results of a federal investigation geared toward focusing on a home weapons trafficking group who was allegedly offering firearms and ammunition to Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación in Mexico, the DOJ mentioned. The cartel is described as “one of many largest and most violent drug cartels in Mexico,” in response to the DOJ press launch.
Santillan Valencia is accused of heading the group which used earnings from narcotics gross sales to buy assault rifles, tons of of hundreds of rounds of assault rifle ammunition, machine gun components and equipment and smuggle them into Mexico, the DOJ mentioned. The period of the operation has largely taken place for the reason that starting of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“The defendants on this case smuggled subtle weaponry out of the USA to one of the vital violent cartels in Mexico whose members goal not solely rival gangs, however harmless Mexican residents and Mexican regulation enforcement,” mentioned Kristi Okay Johnson, the assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles area workplace.
The indictment alleges that the group obtained the firearms in Oregon and Nevada, consolidated shipments in or close to Pahrump and Whittier, and smuggled them to Mexico, the DOJ mentioned. Additionally they allegedly obtained ammunition from numerous states to be delivered to a stash location in Nevada, authorities mentioned. .
The group operated for about one yr after starting no later than March 2020 and obtained hundreds of rounds of .50-caliber armor piercing incendiary rounds in Arizona, the DOJ mentioned. Authorities seized six assault rifles, over 250,000 rounds of assault rifle ammunition, over $300,000 price of weapons components and kits to assemble “six-barrel rotary machine weapons able to firing as much as 6,000 rounds per minute,” the DOJ mentioned in it’s press launch.
The cost of conspiracy to violate export administration rules carries a statutory most sentence of 20 years in federal jail, whereas the tried smuggling counts every carry a most penalty of 10 years in jail, the DOJ mentioned.