Mexican Customs justifies lack of arms seizures!

Mexican Gov. Authorties wouldn't release any ser. nr's. from these hundreds of weapons!

El Universal (Mexico City) Sunday 8/15/10
So far this year, Mexican Customs has intercepted merely 150 firearms, compared to the thousands the Mexican military has seized in combat against organized crime groups. Jose Bravo Moises, a leading official in the Customs service, explains that it is because the operations of his agency discourage trafficking through ports of entry. He recognizes that arms can cross by other means such as through the ample unguarded areas along the border and by air and sea.

Nonetheless, a special legislative commission overseeing Customs revealed in a meeting with the agency’s head that they paid 100 pesos [$7.86] to bring a firearm from Guatemala into Mexico. “One came in and they didn’t check anything in that Customs office, a serious problem for the traffic of arms the country suffers, for the thousands of deaths and the violence that no one stops,” said Representative Hector Pedroza Jimenez.

The Customs official rejected that the traffic of arms takes place through the Customs inspection points or that there exists corruption in the agency because as soon as any irregularity is detected, it is investigated. “We haven’t detected direct collusion, but we are constantly looking,” he said.

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El Universal,com

German factory investigated for supposed sale of arms to Mexico
La Jornada (Mexico City) 8/15/10

Berlin – German authorities opened a proceeding against the Heckler & Kochel arms factory for the presumed offense of illegal exportation of arms in 2006 to Mexican states with violent internal conflicts, according to the weekly edition of Der Spiegel. The investigation, led by the government attorney’s office and German Customs, is to determine if the factory violated the prohibition, in force in the country, to sell arms in zones of conflict. According to information, in 2006 the factory received official permission to sell “different Mexican national police” thousands of G36 assault rifles, the customary German Army weapon. The authorization supposedly excluded the areas of conflict such as the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Chihuahua and Jalisco. A year later, Heckler & Koch solicited another permit, this time to supply parts for those rifles “to clients with an established address” in those states. The investigation is in its initial stage.

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La Jornada (Mexico City)