"El Mencho's' Cartel Is Buying Everything": U.S. Sanctions High-Caliber Arms Dealer

"Ivan" for Borderland Beat 

Obed Christian Sepúlveda Portillo is added to the US government's list of targets. Credit: Treasury Department

OFAC designated Obed Christian Sepúlveda Portillo, accusing him of buying weapons in the U.S. and illegally sending them to CJNG assassins.

 

The US government on Monday signed up an alleged trafficker of large-caliber weapons who has swelled the arsenal of Mexico's largest and most violent cartel, the Jalisco Cartel - New Generation (CJNG).

The person designated by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is Obed Christian Sepúlveda Portillo, 40, from Jalisco, Mexico.

According to OFAC, Sepúlveda Portillo "traffics high-caliber weapons and ammunition from the United States into Mexico on behalf of the CJNG." It adds that this cartel "relies on high-powered weaponry ... to employ extreme violence in furtherance of its drug trafficking activities."

OFAC mentioned that the designation of Obed Christian Sepúlveda Portillo is the result of "support" and "cooperation" from the Mexican government.

"The CJNG's power and violence are only possible because of its ability to obtain high-powered weapons, which are used to protect drug trafficking routes, territory, and other illicit assets," said Brian E. Nelson, under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence at the Treasury Department, in a press release.

"The Treasury Department is actively targeting those who support and supply drug trafficking and criminal organizations, especially those involved in the production and distribution of synthetic opioids that claim the lives of tens of thousands of Americans each year," the official added.

500,000 weapons trafficked each year

Most of the arsenal used by organized crime groups in Mexico is purchased from US gun shops, according to various reports. The administration of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador sued six US arms manufacturers, blaming them for enriching themselves at the expense of the escalating violence in his country. The lawsuit is ongoing.

Between 70% and 90% of the guns that are seized in Mexico were manufactured in the U.S. and most were held by members of organized crime, the lawsuit claims.

"For decades, the (Mexican) government and its citizens have been victims of a deadly flood of military-style and other particularly lethal weapons flowing from the United States across the border into criminal hands in Mexico," it states.

It is estimated that more than 500,000 U.S. guns illegally cross the southern border each year.

The six defendant companies produce more than 68% of that weaponry, which means they sell more than 340,000 pistols, rifles and machine guns annually that flow from their plants in Massachusetts and other states to cartel lairs miles away, according to the Mexican government.

"El Mencho's cartel is buying everything.

Currently, cartels are interested in acquiring .50 caliber sniper rifles, because with these they can go through an armored truck, even shoot down a helicopter, as a hitman the CJNG did a few years ago to confront a military operation.

The Jalisco Cartel used similar weapons to try to assassinate Mexico City's Public Security Secretary in 2020.

Earlier this year, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) operation broke up a cell that acquired military-style weapons for the CJNG and hid them in a suburb of Los Angeles, California.

"The 'El Mencho' cartel is buying everything," read a Facebook message sent by an arms dealer to one of his accomplices on May 26, 2020. The accused Marco Santillan Jr. was referring to the interest of the CJNG, led by drug trafficker Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, in giving his gunmen powerful weapons.

In the operation called 'Semper Infidelis,' authorities seized six assault rifles, more than 250,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as more than $300,000 in gun parts and kits to assemble several six-barrel rotary machine guns, or "mini-guns," capable of firing up to 6,000 shots per minute.

They purchased the arsenal from stores in Oregon and Nevada. They obtained the bullets from stores across the country. They then hid the merchandise in Pahrump, Nevada, where Santillan lived, and at his father's home in Whittier.

The investigation included eavesdropping on this group's phone and Facebook communications. In one of those messages, on July 13, 2020, Santillan Jr. sent photos and videos showing several Barrett .50 caliber rifles and FN-SCAR rifles, as well as firearm parts and ammunition.

Santillan, his father and other alleged accomplices were charged with attempted arms smuggling and conspiracy to violate export administration regulations, which carry sentences of up to 30 years in prison.

Mencho Oseguera 

UNIVISION