(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A U.S. citizen arrested in central Mexico over the weekend with a number of guns, tactical equipment and a CIA identification is not a U.S. government employee and carried a fake ID, Mexico’s security chief said Tuesday.
The man was arrested Saturday in Atlacomulco, Mexico state, an industrial city 80 miles northwest of Mexico City. An anonymous caller alerted authorities that an armed man was acting aggressively on an apartment balcony.
State authorities said at the time that he was wearing a helmet and a tactical vest, from which hung a rifle. He had a knife in his hand and a wound on his hand.
Mexico Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said Tuesday that after checking with the U.S. Embassy, it was confirmed that he was “not an official nor public servant.” He is under investigation for weapons possession and authorities are investigating whether he is tied to an organized crime group.
The name of the man still hasn’t been released to the public.
Despite the denials that the man really worked for the CIA, the incident raises questions about whether the U.S. government is still flooding Mexico with illegal firearms. It comes more than 10 years after the revelations from Operation Fast and Furious—an Obama-era scandal where the purposely allowed illegal gun purchases under the guise of tracking organized crime.
In late 2023, Sen. Chuck Grassley released information suggesting that a Fast and Furious-type operation is still ongoing. An ATF whistleblower made a shocking disclosure to Grassley’s office in October 2023, alleging that an ATF investigator trafficked guns to Mexico for years, and that top bureau officials covered up his illegal activity.
According to the whistleblower, former ATF Investigator Jose Luis Meneses, a foreign national, admitted to engaging in trafficking numerous firearms for multiple years.
What's the most underrated government scandal of the 21st century, and why is it Operation Fast & Furious?
This is absolutely insane. https://t.co/YnyxVd6iIR pic.twitter.com/OVemaFzQmF
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) October 25, 2023
The whistleblower said that in May 2017, the ATF Deputy Attaché in Tijuana interviewed Meneses after ATF Mexico received a tip that he had trafficked numerous firearms into the country.
In the interview, Meneses admitted that for multiple years he ordered various firearms parts from the internet and retail stores in the U.S. to traffic into Mexico. Meneses claimed that he purchased enough firearm parts to complete eight AR-15-style rifles.
Meneses further admitted that he purchased and trafficked firearms for at least three people in Mexico: his brother who was a police officer, a state judicial official, and a man identified as “Romero,” a former member of the Mexican military.
According to allegations, the ATF terminated Meneses “without cause” and ultimately paid him a severance package after the termination.
“According to the ATF memo and whistleblower disclosures, ATF did not investigate whether Meneses had ties to Mexican cartels, whether ‘Romero’ was connected to the cartel, the full extent of Meneses’s trafficking network, whether he had co-conspirators both in the U.S. and Mexico, or if other ATF employees were complicit or involved in his criminal activity,” Grassley said in an open letter to the ATF.
“Whistleblower disclosures indicate that Meneses used his ATF issued devices and diplomatic vehicle to conduct some or all of his firearm trafficking into the U.S. because his diplomatic plates would not subject him to searches at the U.S. and Mexico borders.”
Neither Grassley nor anyone else in Congress have followed up on the matter.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
