July 13, 10

NEWS / CBP Stops Machine Guns, Ammunition Headed into Mexico from California

Andrade, Calif. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers performing southbound inspections at the Andrade, Calif. border crossing stopped a driver with two machine guns strapped to the engine of his pickup from entering Mexico with the weapons and 680 rounds of ammunition.

At about 10:30 a.m., July 10, CBP officers inspecting vehicles leaving the United States, heading into Mexico, stopped a 20-year-old male U.S. citizen driving a white Ford F-150 pickup truck.

A CBP officer referred the car and driver for a more intensive inspection after noticing the driver displaying signs of nervousness.

CBP officers popped the pickup’s hood, and discovered two machine guns and two green ammunition containers strapped to the vehicle’s engine with plastic zip ties. Upon further investigation, officers also discovered ammunition hidden on top of the spare tire, underneath the pickup truck’s bed.

In total, CBP officers found: an MG42 7.92 universal machine gun, a SA43 7.62 X54R MM machine gun, 680 rounds of ammunition, including 280 7.62 caliber rounds, 100 8mm caliber rounds, 100 22LR caliber rounds, and 200.233 caliber rounds, and two boxes of machine gun ammunition links, used to fashion an automated belt for the machine gun ammunition.

CBP seized the vehicle, weapons, and ammunition, and turned custody of the driver over to agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Border Enforcement Security Task Force. The driver will face criminal charges.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/local/07132010.xml