ATF Investigator Smuggled Weapons into Mexico

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

A former investigator with the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) is accused of trafficking weapons to Mexico while he was an employee of the bureau in 2017, according to a letter sent to the ATF Director this week by US Senator Charles Grassley.

José Luis Meneses, a Mexican citizen who worked as an investigator for the ATF at the US consulate in Tijuana, BC, Mexico admitted to purchasing firearm parts online as well as at a California gun store and trafficking them to Mexico for the purposes of profit in 2017, according to the letter and a then-agency memo obtained by Reuters. The case has not been reported previously.

The Grassley letter dated Oct. 18, 2023, cites the 2017 ATF memo and information described as “whistleblower disclosures,” accusing the agency of not conducting a full investigation into the matter.

“If these protected disclosures are true and accurate, they illustrate a failure by the ATF to hold its employees accountable for criminal misconduct.”

Grassley’s letter also raised questions about how much information US officials told their Mexican counterparts about the allegations of gun smuggling by the ATF employee, a point that could stoke tensions between the two countries.

ATF confirmed it had received the letter and said the agency investigates such allegations and takes appropriate action, declining to discuss details of the case.

“The US Embassy found out about suspicious activity, revoked compound access within a day, did an investigation, and fired him within a month. It’s terrible that it happened, but this is exactly how it’s supposed to work,” a US government official said.

The US government “has no tolerance for that sort of behavior,” he added.

A senior Mexican diplomatic official called for an investigation. “We will demand they get to the bottom of this in order to bring those responsible to justice and that this type of action never happens again,” the official said.

Arms Trafficking Using Diplomatic Vehicles

The internal investigation into Meneses began when a firearm parts vendor called the US Consulate in Tijuana to report suspicious purchases, according to Grassley’s letter.

The tip led US officials to interrogate Meneses, who admitted to buying firearm parts in the US, smuggling them into Mexico, and handing them off to his brother, a Mexican police officer, and a former Mexican soldier, according to the ATF memo.

ATF agents from the San Diego office then searched the PO box that Meneses said he used for the purchases, where they found assault-style rifle parts and high-capacity magazines, the memo said.

Meneses used a vehicle with diplomatic plates to avoid being searched at the border while smuggling the firearms, according to the letter. In total, Meneses said he bought enough parts to assemble eight AR-15 rifles, the memo said.

Meneses was placed on administrative leave and then terminated in April 2017, the memo said.

In Grassley’s letter, he accused the agency of treating the allegations of gun smuggling like an “administrative matter” and questioned whether ATF investigated possible links between Meneses or his associates and Mexican cartels.

The ATF memo is a detailed summary of Meneses’ case prepared by a top ATF official in Mexico at the time and addressed to the then-head of Mexico’s specialized unit to investigate cases of terrorism and arms trafficking. But it’s unclear whether the memo was ever sent.

On May 9, 2017, the ATF official sent an email to a top State Department official in Mexico saying that “ATF will not make any notifications to GOM (the government of Mexico).”

Neither ATF nor the Mexican government responded to questions about whether US officials later informed Mexico about the case. Reuters was not able to contact Meneses.

Last week, Grassley sent a a letter to the head of the ATF questioning their stopping of Project Thor which sought to stem the tide of arms trafficking to Mexico last year, and requesting documents related to that operation.

Sources Reuters