Denver Post: Feds probing Aurora shipper over guns bound for Guatemala
Originally Posted by Denver Post
Feds probing Aurora shipper over guns bound for Guatemala
By Felisa Cardona
The Denver Post
An Aurora shipping business and local individuals are under federal investigation after a truck crash in Texas revealed a load of Guatemala-bound guns from Denver.
The 11 guns, hidden inside stereo speakers and a television, had been boxed up for delivery on a Penske truck leased by Transportes Zuleta, according to a search warrant filed Nov. 9 in U.S. District Court in Denver.
Colorado U.S. Attorney John F. Walsh has said one of his priorities is to obtain congressional funds to stop the flow of weapons across the Southwest border. Walsh has received money to hire a prosecutor to concentrate on cases involving border issues such as gun and drug smuggling.
Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for Walsh, declined to comment about the search warrant because the case remains under investigation. But it appears that the warrant is less indicative of a widespread Colorado connection to Central American drug violence than it is a sign of the federal government's increased efforts to slow or halt the shipment of U.S. guns to that part of the world.
After the January 2009 truck crash, agents reviewed an invoice for one of the boxes carrying weapons that showed it was shipped from Joel Marsh of Longmont to a woman in Guatemala.
Agents interviewed Marsh, who told them his friend Oscar Chavez had asked him to send the package to his aunt in Guatemala because Chavez was leaving for a trip there and didn't have time to send it.
Contacted Monday,Marsh confirmed he was questioned by federal agents and said he thought he was doing a friend a favor.
Marsh said he used to work with Chavez at a Longmont car dealership and had no idea he was shipping guns to Guatemala.
"I was scared to death," Marsh said of the questioning. "They never have told me I have been cleared."
In August 2009, Oscar Morales-Morales, a man accused of trying to buy guns from undercover federal agents, told them that people were smuggling firearms from Denver to Guatemala using Transportes Zuleta, the affidavit says.
"Morales-Morales stated that he was going to hide the guns in a box of clothing and send the package with (Transportes Zuleta) to Guatemala," the affidavit says. "Morales-Morales continued by stating that lots of people are smuggling guns from Denver, Colorado area to Guatemala using TZ."
On Nov. 9, federal agents got consent from the manager of the Aurora branch of Transportes Zuleta to search customer boxes in their warehouse with the help of Casey, a weapons-detector canine dog.
Casey alerted agents to the presence of gunpowder or explosives in three boxes, but when the agents opened them, nothing was found.
Carmen, a manager for Miami-based Transportes Zuleta who declined to give her last name, said the company cooperates with law enforcement if it thinks suspicious items are being shipped.
"We have nothing to do with this," she said.
Customers are required to fill out an invoice detailing what they are shipping in their boxes, she said.
"We don't check every single box," Carmen said. "But we have every right to search if something looks suspicious."
Original story found here: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16747032
This article is a reminder to be aware, know who your dealing with, and take precautionary measures if necessary. Discuss.
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