Borderland Beat |  |
- Official takes weapons to Los Zetas
- Mexican Brothers lose last appeal to be executed in Malaysia...
- 330 pounds of Meth discovered on a container headed to the Philippines
| Official takes weapons to Los Zetas Posted: 25 Apr 2015 02:39 AM PDT Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Reforma article [Article subject: Weapon Smuggling, Los Zetas Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required]  Abel Barajas The criminal organisation of Los Zetas had a Municipal Functionary of Coahuila as one of their best sources of night vision goggles, magazines for assault rifles, scopes and ammunition. Oliver Bres Carranza, who was Boss of special programmes, Directorate of Planning, Zoning and Public Works of the Municipality of Piedras Negras is currently serving a prison sentence in Texas for smuggling weapons to the criminal group. An investigation by the Department of Internal Security, and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), of the United States located Bres as an intermediary of Celso Martinez Perez "El Celso", operator of Omar Trevino Morales "El Z-42", to acquire weapons on the frontier of Coahuila. The investigation indicates that the former official was mainly an accomplice of Erik Alan Garza, a Texan of 28 years old, who used the home of his mother in an Eagle Pass Mall to collect weapons and send them to Mexico. Bres Carranza and Garza coordinated the purchase of much of these articles, from a Gun Shop in Eagle Pass, Texas. The investigation revealed that one of the times that Garza and Bres Carranza obtained these articles, they gave these articles to members of Los Zetas Cartel, says the record DR12-CR-960 of the Federal Court of the Western District of Texas. Bres was detained on 6th of June 2013 and in October following he was declared guilty of the charge of firearm contraband, and on 19th of March of 2014 was condemned to 51 months in prison and three years of probation. For the US agencies and Prosecutors office, it took more than two years building the case with Bres and their involvement in the transfer of weapons to Los Zetas. The investigations started with a simple review to the accounts of a sale of weapons in Vermont, five years ago. The clue: an invoice Richard Grafkowski, an agent of Homeland Security Investigation, HSI, carried out tax checks on the shops selling arms. After five years, when he was revising the sales of Dragonfly Outfitters LLC, a company from Williston, Vermont, with a company name of Scope and More, he found an invoice that piqued his curiosity. The invoice date of 19th of July 2010, had a name of Robert Hasbun Jr. and it accounted for the purchase of 10 night vision goggles and a pair of thermal goggles, for $31,606. Hasbun had his own gun shop on the border with Mexico. For Homeland Security, the date was sufficient to intervene legally on the server of the company internet and access to its emails. An email revealed that on the 19th of July of 2010 Hasbun, asked the sales manager of Scopes and More to send the order of goggles and glasses to the companies local Master Parcel Service, in the commercial centre of Las Aguiles, in Eagle Pass, Texas. From this moment, the HSI following up on emails from Hasbun Jr., his brother Christian who both received email from a Hotmail address, from Mexico, ordering armaments. As of January 18th 2011 the HSI knew that Hunting Group LLC, a company of Roberto Hasbun Jr., was going to deliver 4500 magazines for assault rifles to the warehouse of Hesles Gun and Knife, in Eagle Pass, the city opposite Piedras Negras. On the same day, agents of HSI staked out the establishment of Hesles and observed the arrival of a Ford 150, grey colored, a youngster that later would be identified as Erik alan Garza. Who made the orders to their suppliers, from the Hotmail address, was Oliver Bres Carranza, official of the Directorate of planning, town planning and public works of Piedras Negras. Original article in Spanish at Reforma (may require subscription)  | ||
| Mexican Brothers lose last appeal to be executed in Malaysia... Posted: 24 Apr 2015 06:57 PM PDT Lucio R Borderland Beat  My cousin lived in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia for 6 years. She has convinced me to the probable innocence of these men, that they were forced into working for the drug ring (cleaning the factory). How it was explained to me is, recruiters in places like Mexico, Philippines and other places of poverty, that head hunters recruit men and women, lured by promises of high paying employment and training. Once overseas, they are sold into servitude, working in the sex and drug trade or even domestic work. Their passports are taken away, and they are held hostage. In this case the brothers had no criminal record. The recruiter was also arrested but hired an attorney firm that was able to get him out of the charges and allowed to quickly return to Mexico. Leaving the brothers to take the fall. Read background of the story link here From the Malaysian Insider The government of Mexico plans to rally support from death penalty opponents to dissuade Malaysia from executing three Mexican brothers convicted on drug charges. Mexico "will turn to various local and international groups opposed to the death penalty," the foreign ministry said in a statement. Malaysia's Federal Court on Thursday upheld the death sentences imposed on Luis Alfonso, Simon and Jose Regino Gonzalez Villarreal. The three men heard the court's decision accompanied by relatives and Mexico's ambassador to Malaysia, Carlos Felix. "We are in the final part of the judicial process. Today was a very serious setback," Felix told Mexico City's Radio Formula, adding that the defence team was considering filing a request for reconsideration by the Federal Court. Once legal remedies are exhausted, the men's only hope of avoiding the noose would be a royal pardon.
Felix said that the sultan of Johor, where the men were convicted, could substitute a prison sentence for the death penalty on "strictly humanitarian grounds". Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy where traditional monarchs in the Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy where traditional monarchs in the country's various regions retain certain powers. Malaysian jurisprudence offers no precedents for a case like this one, and the process could grind on for another two years, the ambassador said. "They won't hang them in the next few days," said Felix, who has visited the three brothers monthly since his arrival in Malaysia 18 months ago. Mexico "maintains a position contrary to the death penalty" and will continue providing consular assistance to the Gonzalez Villarreal brothers, the foreign ministry said. The three Mexicans testified at their May 2012 trial that they were merely cleaning the clandestine drug-making factory where they were detained. The brothers were arrested and have been in prison since 2008. None of the brothers has a criminal record in Mexico. – Bernama, April 24, 2015.  | ||
| 330 pounds of Meth discovered on a container headed to the Philippines Posted: 24 Apr 2015 09:18 AM PDT Lucio R Borderland Beat from PGR website The Attorney General's Office reported that the Criminal Investigation Agency confiscated said more than 151 kilos of methamphetamine in the port of Manzanillo, Colima. During an inspection of a container of metal parts, they found 145 kilos (330 lbs) of the synthetic drug embedded within the parts.  |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Borderland Beat To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States | |
No comments:
Post a Comment