Couple allegedly tries to take machine gun, grenade, rifles to Mexico

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A man and a woman have a date in U.S. district court next week after allegedly trying to buy a machine gun, three high-powered rifles and grenades from undercover agents in New Mexico.

Fernando Espino Oritz, Perla Janeth Ruiz Lozano and two minors crossed into the U.S. from Palomas, Mexico, last Wednesday and headed to Albuquerque in a blue Dodge Durango carrying $100,000 in undeclared cash, court records show.

Espino allegedly was to be paid $5,000 by a “weapons broker” in Mexico to pick up three M249 rifles and an M134 machine gun – a multi-barrel firearm often referred to as a “minigun” – from two black market gun dealers in Albuquerque. The military version of the M134 is often mounted on helicopters.

The deal originally also involved the purchase of a crate of 30 grenades, but the Mexican source couldn’t come up with enough cash for that.

According to a criminal complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, the U.S. dealers turned out to be undercover agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The agents had been communicating with the Mexican buyer since Sept. 3 and when the “deal” was finalized, the buyer said he would send associates to pick up the load.

The blue Durango arrived at an undisclosed location in Bernalillo County on Wednesday afternoon; the undercover ATF agents showed Espino the guns and he allegedly assured them he had brought the cash.

Court records show the agents explained to Espino the M134 was a fully automatic machine gun designed to fire multiple bullets with a squeeze of a trigger. They reportedly asked him where he was taking the weapons, and he allegedly told them, “To Mexico.”

One of the undercover agents allegedly discussed with Espino the future purchase of the grenades excluded from the current deal. The agent called the illegal weapons broker and the two agreed that Espino would receive a free grenade so the buyer’s organization could try it out, court records show.

Once the guns were in the blue Durango, local and federal law enforcement officers moved in to arrest Espino. Court records show the undercover agents observed Ruiz holding a cell phone to her ear during the arrest, and then one of them received a call from the Mexican buyer asking what was going on because he was hearing screams.

Law enforcement officers also arrested Ruiz in connection with the illegal firearms purchase.

Court records show Ruiz denied knowing about the purchase of the weapons but told the agents she saw cash in her blue Durango and the machine gun being loaded into her vehicle.

Espino allegedly admitted he was instructed in Mexico to take the cash to Albuquerque and bring back the guns across the border. His payment was to be $5,000 once he returned to Mexico with the guns, records show.

The man and the woman are facing charges of illegal possession of a machine gun, conspiracy to traffic firearms, receipt and possession of a destructive device, and aiding and abetting.

Both are scheduled to appear in a federal courtroom in Albuquerque at 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 30 for a detention hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura Fashing. There was no immediate word on what happened to the children.

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