Mexican Man Sentenced to 10 Years’ Prison for Weapons Smuggling

     TUCSON, Ariz. – Yesterday, Luis Enrique Beltran-Beltran, 41, of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Judge Cindy K. Jorgenson to 120 months’ imprisonment.  Beltran had previously pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with conspiracy to unlawfully export and aiding and abetting the unlawful possession of machine guns, grenades, and grenade launchers. Beltran had been extradited from Mexico to the United States in 2017.

     Agents received information in 2011 that Beltran was trafficking military-grade weapons from the U.S. into Mexico.  The investigation revealed that Beltran sought to buy and smuggle up to 10 machine guns with attached grenade launchers and 50 grenades each week. Beltran, who orchestrated his criminal activity from Mexico, also directed several other co-conspirators to smuggle over 50,000 rounds of ammunition and hundreds of high-capacity ammunition magazines.  In sentencing him to the maximum sentence allowed by law, Judge Jorgenson cited the severity of Beltran’s crimes and his role as a leader of an extensive weapons-trafficking conspiracy.

     The investigation in this case was conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, with assistance from the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations.  The prosecution was handled by Angela W. Woolridge, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Tucson.

CASE NUMBER:                   CR-11-01470-TUC-CKJ

RELEASE NUMBER:           2018-122_Beltran

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