Ammunition Smugglers Sentenced to Prison

TUCSON, Ariz. – Mauricio Robles, 26, of Phoenix, Arizona, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Rosemary Marquez to 37 months in prison for attempting to smuggle ammunition from the United States into Mexico. The court previously sentenced Robles’ co-defendant, Arlando Torres, 36, of Texas, to 70 months in prison on September 30, 2021. 

On May 4, 2020, Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle Torres was driving. Robles was the sole passenger and the owner of the vehicle.  Inside the vehicle, DPS troopers found almost 6,000 rounds of ammunition and thirty ammunition magazines. Torres and Robles intended to provide the ammunition to other individuals who would then smuggle the ammunition from the United States into Mexico on behalf of a criminal organization, in exchange for payment.

Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation in this case, with the assistance of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela W. Woolridge, District of Arizona, Tucson, handled the prosecution.

CASE NUMBER:            20-2122-TUC-RM
RELEASE NUMBER:    2021-091_Torres

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For more information on the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/az/
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