Florida: Thousands of Guns, Grenades, “Aircraft and Tank Weapons” Mailed to South America
June 28th, 2019Via: Miami Herald:
Thousands of assault-style weapons and explosives shipped through the mail from South Florida to South America were seized this week in a law enforcement crackdown on arms traffickers who rake in millions on the black market while supplying criminal gangs, federal authorities said Friday.
A portion of the 5,300 firearms and components were confiscated in South Florida in the arrests of two high-level smugglers accused of illegally exporting weapons parts in packages that are reassembled in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, a notorious hub known as the Tri-Border Area, according to officials with Homeland Security Investigations in Miami.
The vast majority of the weapons smuggled out of South Florida — including more than 2,500 AR-15 rifles, handguns and grenades, along with some military-grade aircraft and tank weaponry — were confiscated in Argentina in that country’s largest illegal firearms haul ever, U.S. officials said during a news conference at HSI’s office in Doral. Argentine authorities arrested more than 20 suspects and seized about $100,000 in cash.
