Friday, January 9, 2015

Border Insecurity: Mexican Drug Lord’s Son Arrested in Texas

1/9/2015

WASHINGTON – Osiel Cardenas Jr., the son of one of the most powerful Mexican drug lords, was placed in provisional detention in Texas this week when he attempted smuggle 480 rounds for a varmint rifle into Mexico.

The suspect, known as “Mini Osiel,” told a federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, that the ammunition seized by Homeland Security agents on Dec. 31 was his, court documents obtained by Efe said.

Border Patrol agents arrested Cardenas after he declared that he was not transporting money, weapons or ammunition in the Cadillac Escalade SUV he was driving through the border crossing in Brownsville.

Agents ordered him to stop for an inspection and when they frisked him they found 14.2 grams of marijuana hidden in his underwear.

Cardenas, whose court documents say has U.S. citizenship, was carrying 290 9mm rounds and 161 .223mm rounds for varmint and semi-automatic weapons.

Border Patrol agents also found 29 7.62mm rounds, two magazines for .223-caliber weapons and “additional tactical equipment” inside the car, the documents said.

Cardenas was charged with violations of U.S. laws on importing and exporting firearms since he did not obtain a State Department license to transport the ammunition.

The suspect appeared of his own volition before a federal judge and testified in Spanish without asking for legal counsel, the documents said.

Cardenas’s father is Osiel Cardenas Guillen, the former leader of the Gulf drug cartel.

The Gulf cartel, one of Mexico’s oldest drug trafficking organizations, was founded by Juan Nepomuceno Guerra in the 1970s and was later led by Juan Garcia Abrego, who was arrested in 1996 and extradited to the United States.

Cardenas Guillen took over the cartel’s leadership in July 1999, but he was arrested in 2003.

He continued running the Gulf cartel, one of the most violent criminal organizations in Mexico, until his extradition to the United States on Jan. 20, 2007.


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