Arizona AG says major gun trafficking operation broken up

The Associated Press
Published: 05.06.2008

Federal and state officials said they broke up a Phoenix-based firearms trafficking operation on Tuesday that provided violent Mexican drug cartels with hundreds of weapons.

The owner of a gun shop called X Calibur Guns, George Iknadosian, 46, knowingly sold at least 650 firearms to drug cartels, according to officials with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The firearms ranged from high-end semiautomatic pistols to assault-style rifles.

"These are weapons of war for the cartels and they're procuring them here by illegal means," Peter Forcelli, an ATF supervisory special agent, told KTVK-TV in Phoenix.

The investigation into X Calibur began 11 months ago, and in that time, undercover agents with ATF and Phoenix police have gone into the store and bought guns after indicating they were to be trafficked to Mexico, ATF special agent Carlos Baixauli told The Associated Press.

Agents raided the store Tuesday and arrested Iknadosian, a Glendale resident. Also arrested were two Mexican brothers legally living in the Phoenix metro area.

Baixauli said the brothers, identified as Hugo Gamez, 26, and Cesar Gamez, 28, worked for a major Mexican drug cartel.