ATF Employee is Busted for Running Guns to Mexico
Jose Nino
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A former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Investigator was recently accused of conducting gun running operations into Mexico.
Apparently, according to John Crump of AmmoLand, the ATF is allegedly trying to cover up this incident.
Jose Luis Meneses, who is a Mexican national, was brought on board the ATF to work as a United States-based investigator. He was specifically working out of the US consulate in Tijuana. He was tasked with helping the ATF halt gun running from the US to Mexico.
However, he ended up doing the opposite after Meneses admitted to running gun parts to Mexico to three men, which includes his brother, who is a police officer, a state judicial official, and a former member of the Mexican military.
Per an ATF whistleblower who sent sensitive information to Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley’s office, Meneses in 2017 started taking a car with diplomatic license plates and driving it over the border to California. The ATF agent would pay a visit to a gun store and purchase firearm parts. The gun shop was not named or accused of engaging in any illegal activity. The gun store ended up notifying the Consulate about the suspicious activity.
Meneses would drive the car storing the firearm parts and head back into Mexico. Due to how the car had diplomatic license plates, it was not subjected to a search at the border. The ATF investigator would subsequently sell the parts to the three men.
Grassley’s office is particularly worried about how the firearms could be sold to the Mexican criminal actors. His letter states that the drug cartels routinely buy guns from members of the Mexican military, and the military member in this case ended up reselling the rifles, even though it is unclear who was the final purchaser of the AR-style rifles.
In the end, the ATF fired Meneses and drafted a memo of notice that was supposed to be sent to the Mexican government. The agency subsequently didn’t even bother to send the information to the Mexican government. Senator Grassley sent a letter to the ATF regarding concerns the agency was actively allowing its employees to commit criminal actions without any form of meaningful pushback.
“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 stated.
The Mexican government is calling for a full investigation into Meneses and the alleged crimes he committed. They did not believe the US did enough with respect to its investigation.
“We will demand they get to the bottom of this in order to bring those responsible to justice and that this type of action never happens again,” A Mexican official stated.
One US official stated that everything was handled adequately. Even though the man did bring in sufficient parts to build eight AR-15 rifles to sell to criminals, the embassy argued that firing him and getting rid of his access were warranted punishment measures.
“The embassy found out about suspicious activity, revoked compound access within a day, did an investigation, and fired him within a month. It’s terrible that it happened, but this is exactly how it’s supposed to work,” an American official said.
Here we go again. The ATF and its functionaries are up to no good. When it’s not infringing on the gun rights of lawful citizens, the ATF is causing all sorts of chaos.
One can only hope that this wretched institution eventually gets put to rest.
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