Thursday, May 19, 2011

CBS follows up on Sipsey Street's lead: DEA accidentally finds guns from ATF "gunwalker"

Sharyl Attkisson reports:

CBS News has learned that the DEA has confiscated a stash of assault rifles connected to ATF's Fast and Furious operation. It's a major seizure of weapons in the controversial ATF case that's the subject of at least two investigations. Sources say it's believed the suspects intended to take the guns to Mexico.

Sources say DEA accidentally came upon the guns while stopping suspects in an unrelated case in the Phoenix area on April 13th. When agents stopped at least two suspects, they found two giant garbage cans full of dozens of AK-47 type weapons wrapped in cellophane. Sources tell CBS News that a trace on the first weapon showed it was purchased in Nov. 2009 by a suspect in ATF's Fast and Furious case.

Insiders allege that ATF allowed more than 2,500 weapons purchased by suspects to "walk," or hit the streets. The current seizure underscores the fact that most of those weapons are still on the street and unaccounted for.

At least two suspects were arrested in the April 13 DEA gun bust. Since then, sources say ATF and DEA have been in a tug of war over who should hold the weapons. The DEA is said to want to keep the weapons (and its own case) separate from ATF controversy. Today, the Dept. of Justice, which oversees DEA and ATF, provided no immediate comment or information.

Court documents indicate ATF Fast and Furious suspects purchased at least 52 AK-47's in November of 2009 (see chart below), and bought hundreds more weapons between Sept. 2009 and Dec. 2010. It's unknown how many times the weapons have changed hands between the time they were purchased, and last month's DEA seizure.

Sources indicate the owner of the Lone Wolf Trading Company and other gun shops were cooperating with ATF by repeatedly selling weapons to suspects. Some ATF agents and gun shop owners involved objected to the controversial strategy; worried that the "walked" guns would be used to kill innocent people. Supporters hoped it would eventually help ATF gain intelligence to take down a Mexican cartel.

ATF quickly rounded up Fast and Furious suspects after two guns they allegedly let "walk" showed up at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December.

Alleged Nov. 2009 purchases by suspects from the Lone Wolf Trading Company in ATF Fast and Furious case (source: U.S. District Court of Arizona Indictment Jan. 19, 2011)

Nov. 3: Suspect Joshua David Moore purchased 2 AK-47 type rifles

Nov. 10: Suspect Moore purchased 5 AK-47 type rifles

Nov. 12: Suspect Moore purchased 3 AK-47 type rifles and suspect Alfredo Celis purchased 10 AK-47 type rifles

Nov. 17: Jose Angel Polanco purchased 1 AK-47 type rifle and other weapons

Nov. 24: Suspect Jaime Avila purchased firearms and Suspect Uriel Patino purchased 5 AK-47 type rifles

Nov. 25: Suspect Dejan Hercegovac acquired 26 AK-47 type rifles, and delivered them to suspect Manueal Fabian Celis-Acosta, and an auto shop in Phoenix

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey, the New York city mayor been doin' something like this for the past 4 years or so ...?

2007, Letter from Robert F. McDonnell, Attorney General, Virginia to NYC mayor:

"RE: Unauthorized Undercover Firearm Transactions in the Commonwealth of Virginia

http://www.saysuncle.com/2007/05/09/va_ag_sends_letter_to_bloomberg/

2010, West Virginia Senator tells NYC mayor to back off

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-02-15/news/27056278_1_gun-dealers-gun-rights-gun-lovers

2011, NRA (they actually taken action?) "calls out" NYC mayor for his coast-to-coast sting operations

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/02/09/nra-calls-out-michael-bloomberg-for-gun-control-efforts

Bad enough the "feds" are out of control and out of their DC jurisdiction - but there's a city mayor attempting to destroy 2nd amendment as well ?!

Who the hell do these people think they are? They're a bunch of meglomaniacs who've gone about as far as they oughtta be allowed to go. Time for stompin' them back into their pits-o-hell they crawled out of (the autnomous, incorporated, not part of the USA DC and NYC).

Gotta be careful with the NYC crowd - look what they did to the Russian Czar, 10s of millions of eastern europeans and other nationalities ...

Anonymous said...

Who do these people think they are?

They think they are in charge of you and can do anything they want as long as the media go along with it. Fortunately, that isn't a problem.