The Step.- Two Mexican bus drivers were arrested Saturday in El Paso on criminal charges related to their alleged smuggling of firearms ammunition.
According to court documents, Lucio Enriquez Garcia was the driver of a rental bus with Mexican license plates when he approached the Bridge of the Americas. Garcia told the Customs and Border Protection officer that he was transporting 16 passengers, including some children, from Phoenix, Arizona, to Zacatecas, Mexico, and that there were no firearms on board. An assistant driver, Ramiro Antonio Barbosa Resendiz, also denied possessing firearms.
Of different calibers
Further inspection revealed 26 black boxes, 11 of which contained 33,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition. The remaining 15 boxes contained 59,900 rounds of .223-caliber rifle ammunition, for a total of 92,900 rounds of ammunition.
Garcia and Resendiz made their initial court appearances Monday and are each charged with one count of smuggling goods from the United States. If convicted, they could face up to 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other legal factors.
U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas made the announcement.
Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Protection are investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg McDonald is prosecuting the case.
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