9 E.V. MEN ARRESTED OVER GUN SALES TO CARTEL

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives and
Mesa and Gilbert police Thursday arrested nine men throughout Mesa and
Gilbert accused of selling firearms to a violent Mexican drug cartel,
according to the ATF.

Bill Newell, a special agent in charge of the ATF Phoenix office, told the
Tribune the men were arrested after nearly a yearlong investigation into
the federal firearms violations for selling high-powered firearms to
Sinaloa, a cartel based in Sonora, Mexico. He said authorities seized a
number of high-powered firearms.

Sinaloa is one of four major drug cartels in Mexico and its members are
currently known for purchasing high-powered rifles used in assaults against
government and law enforcement officials and home invasions. The Sinaloa
also is known for beheading its victims in the battle for Sonora, Newell said.

The men were arrested after warrants were executed at nine homes in an
operation that involved about 50 law enforcement officers who assisted in
the raids, Newell said.

The men were arrested after federal warrants were executed and now are in
federal custody. They are accused of purchasing the firearms from local gun
shows, gun shops and unlicensed dealers for people who cannot legally
purchase them, Newell said.

The types of firearms seized at the residences were not immediately
available, according to Newell.

"It's a war - it's an ongoing war down there, and they need ammunition," he
said.

The men who allegedly purchased the firearms for Sinaloa members are facing
at least 10 years in prison if convicted for "lying and buying," a program
for people who knowingly purchase weapons for someone who cannot legally
possess a firearm, Newell said. More arrests are expected, he said.

"We took down the whole network," Newell said. "If you go into a gun store
and say a gun you are purchasing is for you, and it's not, you're looking
at spending 10 years in prison. Of all the guns seized in Mexico, 95
percent of them are from the U.S."

ATF agents began the investigation into the illegal gun purchasing
operation in January after receiving some information from a home invasion
investigation in Tucson, Newell said.

He said he was unsure about other arrests, but added that the investigation
was ongoing.