ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: AZ Central
21March2011 7:00amEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: At least three people who allegedly worked for a Mexican drug cartel face charges of plotting to buy a Stinger Missile, anti-tank rockets and other military firepower, according to federal court papers unsealed Friday in Phoenix.
"The object of the conspiracy was to obtain and possess military-grade weaponry, and then to export that weaponry to the Republic of Mexico and supply that weaponry to a Mexican drug trafficking organization," says an indictment in U.S. District Court.
The defendants – David Diaz-Sosa, Jorge De Jesus-Casteneda and Emilia Palomina-Robles – were indicted by a grand jury on multiple conspiracy counts involving drugs and weapons.
The indictment says Diaz-Sosa began communicating with a government informant and undercover agents in November 2009, claiming he represented a cartel middleman identified only as "Enrique."
According to other prosecution filings, Diaz-Sosa told an informer that he oversaw monthly narcotics shipments from Nogales, Sonora, to Virginia, and worked on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel. (read full report)