ATF: Houston effort helps fight gun flow to Mexico – Boston.com
A four-month effort to stop the flow of firearms from the U.S. to Mexican drug cartels has helped law enforcement disrupt various gun trafficking rings and gain a better understanding of how these groups try to avoid detection, officials announced Thursday.
Many weapons seized south of the border are traced back to Houston, where 100 agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and other personnel were deployed in April to develop cases on trafficking firearms to Mexico.
ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson said the initiative vastly reduced a backlog of investigative leads and increased the number of criminal cases in Houston.
“While we can’t say we’ve solved the gun running problem to Mexico as a result of this (effort), it is a start and it certainly has made an impact here in Houston,” Melson told The Associated Press after a news conference.
