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21 Members Of Border Gun Running Ring Indicted

Twenty-one people have been indicted in a weapons trafficking case that stretched across Arizona and into Mexico.

The gun-running ring is accused of attempting to smuggle 100 weapons and about 80,000 rounds of ammunition into Mexico.

A federal grand jury alleges that 21 people started buying the guns in Glendale in early 2015. According to the 30-page indictment, the ring bought semiautomatic weapons in Glendale, Phoenix, Apache Junction, and Tucson.

These were what federal agents call straw purchases where one person buys weapons from a licensed dealer for another person.

So far, 19 of the 21 people named in the indictment have been arrested.

Fronteras Desk senior editor Michel Marizco is an award-winning investigative reporter based in Flagstaff.