Raid by my house!

[yomama]

Excaliber Guns, in Phoenix, AZ got raided. Apparently the owner is accused of giving guns to the Mexican human smugglers who were using them on the Mexican and American border agents.

This store is near my house, but I have never bought from them. Was just nuts though!

 

[FireMax]

The accusation by the feds and the actual truth are often far apart.

 

[TwoXForr]

Is this the raid you are refering to?

Bonds set for gun-running suspects
May 6th, 2008 @ 5:09pm
by Associated Press and Jim Cross and Jana Baybado/KTAR

Three men accused of supplying hundreds of assault rifles and other guns to violent Mexican drug cartels have made their first court appearance in Phoenix.

George Iknadosian, 46, the owner of X Caliber Guns in north Phoenix, is accused of knowingly selling guns to ``straw purchasers'' paid to give the guns to members of drug cartels.

Iknadosian appeared in Maricopa County Superior Court on Tuesday evening. His bond was set at $75,000, and his next hearing was set for May 13, when he is scheduled to enter a plea.

Two Mexican brothers accused of recruiting straw purchasers to buy Iknadosian's guns also appeared. Bond for Hugo Miguel Gamez, 26, and Cesar Bojorquez Gamez, 28, was set for $100,000.

They also are scheduled to enter pleas next week.

It was unclear whether Iknadosian and the Gamez brothers had lawyers. The three were being held in the Maricopa County jail. The sheriff's office did not immediately answer a request to interview the men.

Assault rifles and other high caliber weapons are a hot commodity among Mexican drug cartels, who use the weapons in deadly confrontations between rival cartels and against law enforcement officers.

Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives say Iknadosian knew where the guns would end up, and sold at least 650 firearms to drug cartels through the fake buyers.

The 11-month investigation into X Caliber Guns began after authorities traced some guns involved in crimes in Mexico to the store. In that time, undercover ATF agents and Phoenix police detectives have gone into X Caliber and bought guns after indicating they were to be trafficked to Mexico, officials said.

Iknadosian and the Gamez brothers face state charges including conducting an illegal enterprise, misconduct involving weapons,money laundering, forgery and fraudulent schemes.

"This is not just taking guns to Mexico," Phoenix police Asst. Chief Andy Anderson said. "This is putting guns in the hands of drug dealers and human smugglers ... This is a despicable crime."

Gun running is a lucrative trade that attracts desperate people to pose as straw buyers, said Pete Forcelli with the ATF.

"They pay them 100 bucks. A lot of those people are single mothers, pregnant women," he said. "We had one guy who had bad rheumatoid arthritis and couldn't afford his medication. So what they do is they target people who are down on their luck to become straw purchasers. So they're creating criminals out of people who would otherwise never be criminals."

Arizona ATF Chief Bill Newell called the seizure of 1,300 weapons from X Caliber and Iknadosian's Glendale home rare and important, saying it only takes one gun to kill someone.

"There's a war going on in Mexico, and it's a war between the drug cartels themselves, against law enforcement, against the military - and make no mistake about it, it affects us here along the border, as well," Newell said. "We share this border and we share this problem."

The investigation into X Caliber Guns began 11 months ago after authorities traced some guns involved in crimes, including homicide, in Mexico to the store, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said.

Goddard's office said Phoenix has been identified as one of the top five metro areas in the U.S. where weapons and ammunition are obtained and illegally smuggled into Mexico.

http://www.ktar.com/index.php?nid=6&sid=828700

Yep that crazy 11 month investigation led to a wild accusation by the Evil ATF.

 

[stevelyn]

The accusation by the feds and the actual truth are often far apart.

Exactly. America's Schwarz Corps in action again.

When it come to anything the jack-booted, sturmtruppen thug bastards of the waffen BATFEces are involved in, I give the benefit of the doubt to their victims.

Remember Waco?

 

[azredhawk44]

Assault rifles and other high caliber weapons

I doubt X-caliber did much trade in guns with happy switches (assault rifles), and high caliber weapons...? .223 and 7.62 weapons are relatively small caliber. No mention of any evil .50BMG's, which the news would be sure to include in zOMG TEH EVUL KANNON! fashion.

Drug cartels suddenly have a fetish for .45/70's, .375 H&H's et cetera?

I'm comfortable with the proposition that the guy was selling AK's and other inexpensive semiauto rifles to illicit purchasers and as such, was nabbed.

Not a one of them appears to be an "assault rifle" or "other high caliber weapon" though.

 

[toybox99615]

another classic statement

"When it come to anything the jack-booted, sturmtruppen thug bastards of the waffen BATFEces are involved in, I give the benefit of the doubt to their victims.


Every one of these case the BATF is always wrong according to some of our posters. In fact I don't know of a single case referred to on this board where the BATF was not in the wrong according our posters. On the other hand we don't ever seem to see the results posted of the trials where the owners are convicted or plead guilty do we. Of course no of these owners were guilty so why look at trial results.

 

[Wildalaska]

The accusation by the feds and the actual truth are often far apart.

The screeching on the net and reality are often far apart.

When it come to anything the jack-booted, sturmtruppen thug bastards of the waffen BATFEces are involved in, I give the benefit of the doubt to their victims.

:barf:

Really? Like the felon who just got convicted of asaulting one of our local ATF guys and being a felon in possession of a firearm is just a victim of the Sturmtruppen, ja? Guess our fellow Alaskans didn't agree with that.

Bet you don't have the guts to say that to Vince or Toms face (the two Agents local guys who are in here quite often since they love guns and hunting in between chasing the ninnyhammers that make us all look bad)

Give it a break already.

WildblahblahblahAlaska ™

 

[Al Norris]

You know, I would have liked to merge this thread with the original thread that was posted to, just yesterday evening - in fact, just thirteen hours before the OP, here.

But, I get a little frustrated when folks start posting the same news that was posted less than 24hrs previously.

If you can't bother to do a simple eyeball search (it's still on the first page, using the forum defaults) of the forum to which you want to post, then I really will close it, for being a duplicate thread.