An attempt to buy dozens of assault files, handguns and grenades for the Gulf Cartel ended with three men being arrested in Olmito.
U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Guillermo De la Garza, Roberto Carlos Mata-Ocanas and Reynaldo Arriaga on Thursday.
Court records show that ICE agents from Alabama had been working on a weapons smuggling case involving De La Garza.
The records show a federal grand jury in Mobile, Alabama indicted De La Garza late last week.
De La Garza's case remains sealed but records released in the Olmito case show he was trying to buy high-powered weapons on behalf of the Matamoros-based Gulf Cartel.
The ICE agents had arranged an undercover sting at the La Quinta Inn and the Los Camperos Restaurant in Olmito on Thursday.
De La Garza had allegedly worked out a deal to pay $86,500 dollars for the following arsenal:
• 49 AK-47 assault rifles
• 23 AR-15 assault rifles
• 29 9mm Beretta handguns
• 5 M203 grenade launchers
• 4 M4 assault rifles
• 10 40mm grenades
Court records show that Mata-Ocanas and Arriaga showed up at the restaurant and were supposed to transport the weapons.
De La Garza told ICE agents that the weapons were headed south of the border and that he was trying to buy them for the Gulf Cartel.
All three men appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Morgan in Brownsville on Friday.
De La Garza waived an identity hearing and is now expected to be extradited to Alabama.
Judge Morgan ordered that Mata-Ocanas and Arraiga be held without bond until a Wednesday afternoon hearing.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKGBT