EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — A federal judge has sentenced an Arizona man and a Mexican man to prison for their role in a scheme to smuggle grenade launchers into Mexico.
Alejandro Valles, 27, of Aguila, Arizona, pleaded guilty to smuggling weapons from the United States into Mexico. U.S. District Judge James A. Soto sentenced him to 15 months in prison, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.
On Oct. 22, 2018, Valles placed an online order for an M203 40mm grenade launcher barrel. When it arrived, Valles sent the package to Southern Arizona, from where an unidentified individual smuggled the barrel into Mexico.
The following month, Valles’ co-conspirator, 21-year-old David Alberto Duarte-Marquez, of Mexico, placed an online order for a similar grenade launcher barrel. Prosecutors say Duarte-Marquez then shipped the barrel to Valles, who again intended to send it to Southern Arizona and ultimately smuggled into Mexico.
Law enforcement, however, intercepted the second barrel before it got to Valles.
Soto previously sentenced Duarte-Marquez to 33 months in prison after he, too, pleaded guilty to smuggling offenses.
According to the news release, agents with Homeland Security Investigations, with the assistance of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, investigated the case. Angela W. Woolridge, Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Arizona, Tucson, prosecuted the case.