Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is escorted by soldiers during a presentation at the hangar belonging to the office of the Attorney General in Mexico City, Mexico, January 8, 2016.(Reuters)
It turns out at least one firearm trafficked into Mexico (and lost) through the Obama Justice Department's
Operation Fast and Furious made its way into the upper echelons of the Sinaloa Cartel.
According to a report by
Fox News' William La Jeunesse a .50-caliber rifle connected to the program was found inside the lair of notorious drug kingpin El Chapo Guzman. Bolding is mine:
After the raid on Jan. 8 in the city of Los Mochis that killed five of his men and wounded one Mexican marine, officials found a number of weapons inside the house where Guzman was staying, including the rifle, officials said.
When agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives checked serial numbers of the eight weapons found in his possession, they found one of the two .50-caliber weapons traced back to the ATF program, sources said.
Out of the roughly 2,000 weapons sold through Fast and Furious, 34 were .50-caliber rifles that can take down a helicopter, according to officials.
Federal law enforcement sources told Fox News that ‘El Chapo’ would put his guardsmen on hilltops to be on guard for Mexican police helicopters that would fly through valleys conducting raids. The sole purpose of the guardsmen would be to shoot down those helicopters, sources said.
Based on the intention of the firearm to be used to take down a helicopter, it should be noted another .50-caliber rifle trafficked through Fast and Furious
was in fact used to take down a Mexican helicopter in 2011.
CBS News has learned that the recent case of a Mexican military helicopter forced to land after it was fired upon is linked to the ATF Fast and Furious "gunwalker" operation.
Drug cartel suspects on the ground shot at Mexican government helicopters two weeks ago in western Mexico, forcing one chopper to land. Authorities seized more than 70 assault rifles and other weapons from the suspects.
Among the seized weapons are guns sold to suspects as part of the ATF sting operation, sources say. That information came from traces of serial numbers.
"Shooting at an aircraft is a terrorist act," says one U.S. law enforcement source. "What does that say if we're helping Mexican drug cartels engage in acts of terror? That's appalling if we could have stopped those guns."
This news comes just under two weeks since El Chapo was captured by the Mexican military after escaping from prison twice. Further, this news comes hours after a
federal judge struck down President Obama's assertion of executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents back in 2012.
Officials are working on the extradition of El Chapo to the U.S.
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