Former US firearms investigator illegally trafficked guns to Mexico, government document alleges

[Elderberry]

Reuters By Sarah Kinosian and Laura Gottesdiener 10/20/2023

A former investigator for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is accused of smuggling guns into Mexico while employed by the agency in 2017, according to a letter sent to ATF's head this week by U.S. Senator Charles Grassley.

Jose Luis Meneses, a Mexican national who worked as an investigator for ATF at the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana, admitted to buying firearm parts online and at a California gun store and trafficking them into Mexico for profit back in 2017, according to the letter and an ATF memo from the time obtained by Reuters.

The case has not been previously reported.

The trafficking of U.S. weapons south across the border is a top diplomatic issue in Mexico. Mexican officials accuse their American counterparts of not doing enough to stanch the illegal flow of these guns, which they say help arm drug cartels and contribute to the country's high homicide rate.

Nearly 70% of traced firearms used to commit crimes and seized in Mexico come from the United States, according to ATF.

The Grassley letter dated Oct. 18, which cites the 2017 ATF memo and information described as "whistleblower disclosures," accused the agency of not conducting a full investigation into the matter.

"If these protected disclosures are true and accurate, they illustrate a failure by the ATF to hold its employees accountable for criminal misconduct."

Grassley's letter also raised questions about how much information U.S. officials told their Mexican counterparts about the allegations of gun smuggling by the ATF employee, a point that could stoke tensions between the two countries.

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In Grassley's letter, he accused the agency of treating the allegations of gun smuggling like an "administrative matter" and questioned whether ATF investigated possible links between Meneses or his associates and Mexican cartels.

The ATF memo is a detailed summary of Meneses' case prepared by a top ATF official in Mexico at the time, and addressed to the then-head of Mexico's specialized unit to investigate cases of terrorism and arms trafficking.

But it's unclear whether the memo was ever sent.

More: https://www.reuters.com/world/former-us-firearms-investigator-illegally-trafficked-guns-mexico-govt-doc-2023-10-20/

[Elderberry]

ATF Agent Caught Smuggling Guns Into Mexico…Again

The Truth About Guns By Dan Zimmerman -October 21, 2023

https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/atf-agent-caught-smuggling-guns-into-mexico-again/

Maybe you thought that Fast and Furious, the Obama administration ATF operation that moved guns across the border into Mexico, was a thing of the distant past. Apparently not. Fast and Furious was reportedly shut down by the Obama Justice Department in 2011 when the whole disaster spilled into public view and resulted in deaths on both sides of the border, including US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

The sitting Attorney General at the time, Barack Obama wingman Eric Holder, was eventually held in contempt of Congress over his lack of cooperation with the subsequent investigation. Holder was never held to account for his part in either starting what the media loved to call a “botched sting operation” or his attempt to cover up its genesis and real purpose.

Fast and Furious gave the corrupt Mexican government a convenient talking point by letting them blame a lot of their cartel-fueled violent crime problems on the US and American gun manufacturers.

That would be funny, if it weren’t so ludicrous. The Mexican army “loses” one-third of its small arms every year. The really hilarious aspect of that is the country’s foreign minister and its government as a whole were named the Arms Control Persons of the Year in 2021 by the Arms Control Association. You can stop laughing now.

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Fast and Furious wasn’t just some kooky keystone cops, well-intentioned, but inept krazy sting operation gone wrong as it was so often described. The “gunwalking” weapon smuggling operation was an Obama administration attempt to justify stricter gun control laws north of the border that, thankfully, blew up in their faces.

And now it seems at least some of their employees didn’t stop after the F&F scandal went public.

It isn’t difficult to figure out why ATF might be sensitive about letting it be known that its employees were still illegally trafficking guns across the border after all the black eyes the agency has suffered. Some things never seem to change.

More at link.

[Smokin Joe]

Don't forget Grenadewalker while we are discussing the Fast and Furious.

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2011/10/14/cbs-dont-forget-grenadewalker-too-n181316

    CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson, who has reported on this story from the beginning, said on “The Early Show” that the investigation into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)’s so-called “Fast and Furious” operation branches out to a case involving grenades. Sources tell her a suspect was left to traffic and manufacture them for Mexican drug cartels.

    Police say Jean Baptiste Kingery, a U.S. citizen, was a veritable grenade machine. He’s accused of smuggling parts for as many as 2,000 grenades into Mexico for killer drug cartels — sometimes under the direct watch of U.S. law enforcement.

    Law enforcement sources say Kingery could have been prosecuted in the U.S. twice for violating export control laws, but that, each time, prosecutors in Arizona refused to make a case.