Arms Trafficking Fuels Violence in Mexico, US Oversight Questioned
In December 2022, at a gun fair in Phoenix, Arizona, Ana Camarillo attempted to purchase a Barrett M82, a .50 caliber semi-automatic sniper rifle. The weapon is designed to destroy light armor, structures, communication equipment, and aircraft on the ground, and is known for its power and effective range of 1.5 to 2.5 kilometers, with a price tag between $8,000 and $14,000. Despite being unable to lift the weapon alone, the dealer sold it to her, and she paid in cash. On the same day, at the same event, another group purchased seven additional .50 caliber rifles, five assault rifles, and two pistols. Three years later, one of these rifles was recovered in Sinaloa on March 24, 2025.
The case is the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which linked Camarillo and eight other Americans to the discovery of the lethal equipment and implicated them as coordinators of a network purchasing and trafficking weapons from Arizona to Mexico between 2022 and 2024. Documents obtained by EL PAÍS reveal a growing trend of artillery smuggling allegedly benefiting criminal groups south of the Rio Grande.
However, Camarillo was reportedly just a pawn in this structure of “phantom buyers,” individuals who lend their names, for a fee, to legally acquire weapons for a third party. According to ATF agent Jesús Álvarez, the operation was orchestrated by brothers Jorge and Alejandro Corona, accused of acquiring eight .50 caliber rifles, four M240-SLR semi-automatic machine guns, one semi-automatic rifle, and two 9mm pistols. The .50 caliber weapon has become one of the most powerful and sought-after long guns by criminal organizations in Mexico, often described as their “favorite” or “war-use” weapon due to its immense destructive power, according to the ATF report.
According to court filings, the Corona brothers used social media platforms like Snapchat and Facebook to recruit individuals through fake or cloned profiles, offering between $800 and $1,000 for purchasing the weapons they specified. Collaborators would go to an address where the pair provided cash and a description of the firearm to be purchased. During the acquisition, false information was provided on a mandatory ATF form, which must be signed when purchasing firearms from a federal dealer in the U.S. Completing this document in person verifies the buyer’s eligibility through a background check. U.S. Law stipulates that making any false statement on this application is a federal crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $250,000.
Álvarez’s statement does not specify the payment criteria for the Corona brothers’ “phantom buyers.” However, the document details that the other seven members of the group were paid sums ranging from $1,500 to $14,000 for completing the purchase and delivery of various types and calibers of weaponry.
“The United States Does Nothing”
Álvarez stated that the Corona brothers consistently had large amounts of cash on hand. One of the women working for them, April Corral, recalled that on one occasion when she was picked up to purchase weapons, there was money scattered throughout the van and a plastic bag containing approximately $50,000 in cash.
Alejandro Corona explained that he sometimes deposited cash into his bank account in one Arizona city and then withdrew it in another, but never exceeded $9,000 to avoid triggering bank reporting requirements. He stated he did this to avoid questions from U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints, and also admitted to taping money to his body when crossing those checkpoints. According to the same statement, once the weapons were purchased, they were transferred to two accomplices: Salvador García Moreno and another individual identified as Noe N. Corona stated that both smuggled large amounts of money into the United States to facilitate the purchase of firearms and also transported them to Mexico.
Pablo Pérez Ricart, a professor and researcher at the Center for Research and Teaching Economics (CIDE), one of Mexico’s most prestigious universities, refers to these individuals, also known as “straw purchasers,” as an ant-like network of arms trafficking involving at least 50,000 people across the United States. He believes that the efforts of agencies like the ATF and Customs, along with the Mexican government, are like searching for a needle in a haystack. He considers the prosecution of these nine accused to be “very little” in relation to the scale of the problem. “The United States practically does nothing. It means nothing, as it is part of small efforts made by agencies with very little budget and that occasionally make arrests of this type. Our most consistent figures coincide in that we are talking about 145,000 weapons entering Mexico each year. That’s about 400 a day,” says the author of the book La violencia vino del Norte (The Violence Came from the North).
Another key player in understanding the arms trafficking problem is the gun stores. The document lists at least seven businesses, with federal permits to sell artillery, as locations where the group made multiple purchases and where, for various reasons and on different occasions, transactions were not completed. Despite this, the report does not mention any instances where a sale was denied.
Civilians with “Inappropriate” Artillery
Operations by the ATF’s Industrial Operations Investigations (IOI) division at gun fairs—events that bring together manufacturers, collectors, and enthusiasts to exhibit and sell firearms, tactical equipment, and hunting/fishing gear—allowed investigators to confirm the acquisition of “inappropriate” artillery by individuals paying with large amounts of cash.
Álvarez states that the IOI visually confirmed reports that, during one such fair in December 2022, a business was selling high-end rifles with belt-fed ammunition, AK-47 variants, all in .38 caliber, cartridges popular for self-defense, law enforcement, and with “good stopping power.” “All of these firearms are preferred by members of Mexican cartels and are largely diverted from traditional arms trade and trafficked to Mexico,” the ATF agent specified.
Amidst pressures from Donald Trump to curb drug trafficking to the U.S., the government of Claudia Sheinbaum continues to demand action to combat the firepower of the cartels to curb the violence plaguing the country, particularly in states like Sinaloa. “How is it possible that in Mexico You’ll see grenade launchers that have been seized from criminal groups when these weapons are for exclusive use by the Army in the United States?” she questioned during her daily press conference on February 4th.
In a separate indictment of 113 charges, filed by Arizona state authorities in October 2025, investigators documented 334 weapons purchased between 2024 and 2025 by 20 individuals from 23 Phoenix-area dealers for the purpose of trafficking them to Mexico. At least 14 of the dealers were licensed to manufacture and sell firearms. The majority of the trafficked weapons, 184 rifles, were manufactured by a gunsmith based in Florida.
“The data and accusations in court show that Arizona has become the main corridor for arms trafficking from the United States to Mexico. Arizona has a very open, very militarized, massive market, so it is very easy for a person or a group of traffickers to buy high-powered weapons. Many of those weapons go to Sinaloa, to arm the conflict between the groups vying for that criminal organization. The route from Texas to Sinaloa would not be so feasible because it would have to pass through other territories controlled by other groups,” says John Lindsay Poland, coordinator of Stop US Arms to Mexico, an initiative that studies the illegal trafficking of arms from the U.S. To Mexico.
