Roberto Lugardo Moreno Jr., a 42-year-old resident of Harlingen, Texas, has pled responsible to smuggling a firearm linked to the murder and kidnapping of US citizens in Matamoras, Mexico on March 3. This announcement was once made via U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. Moreno admitted to helping the smuggling of a firearm into Mexico, understanding that it was once supposed for contributors of the Gulf Cartel. The firearm that Moreno bought on October 17, 2019, was once came upon to be linked to the March 3 incident via information equipped via Mexican government. It was once came upon that Moreno bought the firearm at a pawn store in Brownsville with the purpose of offering it to a Gulf Cartel determine in Mexico who was once identified to him.
Hamdani expressed his fear in regards to the widespread smuggling of firearms into Mexico, which steadily finally end up being utilized by criminals to rob, murder and extort blameless other people. In Moreno’s case, the firearm he smuggled into Mexico was once used within the murder and kidnapping of US citizens via criminals linked to the Gulf Cartel. This case serves for example of the dangers that include smuggling guns into Mexico.
Moreno faces up to 10 years in federal jail and a high quality of up to $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for August 9 and he’s lately in custody. The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation was once performed via Homeland Security Investigations and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), with strengthen from the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration. The OCDETF program goals to determine, disrupt and dismantle the highest-level drug traffickers, gangs, and transnational felony organizations that pose a risk to the United States.
The case is being prosecuted via Assistant U.S. Attorneys Edgardo J. Rodriguez, Karen Betancourt, Israel Cano, and Alejandra Andrade.