9 On Your Side Border Watch
Alert Nogales resident leads police to stash of guns, ammo & drugs
Where were these guns headed and did the U.S. Government have anything to do with it?
Reporter: Tammy Vo
NOGALES, Ariz. (KGUN9-TV) - It's one of the biggests busts Nogales has seen in quite some time. 43 Assault rifles, nearly 20,000 rounds of ammunition, high capacity magazine clips and $150,000 worth of marijuana that police believe was on its way to Mexico, and into the hands of violent cartel members.
"It's certainly significant. In fact that it's largest seizure that the majority of the staff here has seen" said Nogales Police Chief, Jeffrey Kirkham. He tells KGUN 9 that someone living in the Mi Casa Mobile Home Park noticed suspicious behavior at a home and called police. A federal search warrant allowed investigators to search the home where they discovered the stash. Kirkham says that no one has been arrested.
Most neighbors living in the park were hesitant to discuss what happened with KGUN 9, but a few residents are frightened.
9 On Your Side wanted to know, are these weapons linked to the government's Fast and Furious scandal? A secret program that allowed guns to be sold to cartels in an effort to track them down. But instead, guns were lost and two of them ended up at the scene where Border Agent Brian Terry of Southern Arizona was killed.
"Certainly you could gamble and say that it is a possibility but at this point I don't know. ICE has the weapons and they'll be able to find out if there was any involvement in that."
ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Referred KGUN 9 to ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms). ATF confirmed that they are tracing the guns but can't answer KGUN 9's question.
"I cannot comment with respect to where the guns were traced because it's a violation of the Tiahrt Amendment which prohbits us from commenting on guns that were seized and traced" said Tom Mangan, ATF spokesman.
9 On Your Side got in touch with Congressman Darrell Issa's office of California. He is the chairman of a committee that's investigating the Fast and Furious program. His office is asking investigators to look into whether this stash is connected to Fast and Furious. Those same investigators were able to link Fast and Furious to hundreds of deaths along the border, including Agent Brian Terry and the family of a high ranking Mexican official.
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