|
Only have a minute? Listen instead
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Federal authorities arrested a woman Thursday who they say attempted to move thousands of rounds of ammunition into Mexico, ammo they found underneath some groceries in her pickup truck at the Anzalduas International Bridge.
Special agents with Homeland Security Investigations witnessed Nereida Martinez de Chavez select two boxes of ammunition from an aisle of a federal firearms licensee in Brownsville before heading to the register, according to a criminal complaint.
Their surveillance of Martinez de Chavez and the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck she was driving continued all the way to the Anzalduas bridge where she attempted to enter Mexico.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers then stopped her for inspection where she told authorities she was not declaring any firearms, ammunition or other contraband.
But the officers who inspected her and the vehicle found 2,812 rounds of ammunition in a bag covered with groceries on the floorboard behind the driver’s seat of the truck, the complaint said.
Ammunition ranged in caliber from .45 to .380 to 30-06 caliber ammo.
Martinez de Chavez is accused of conspiring or attempting to export the ammunition from the U.S. into Mexico.
