https://www.rt.com/news/526402-ammunition-stolen-mexico/
Armed assailants in Mexico hijack US-bound trucks carrying 7 million rounds of ammunition
Two trailers transporting ammunition to the United States were ambushed by armed criminals on a Mexican highway. Most of the ammo is small-caliber and won’t be useful for drug cartels, the manufacturer said.
The shipment of approximately seven million rounds was intercepted earlier this week on a highway in Guanajuato, a Mexican state plagued by violence stemming from the drugs trade. The drivers of the two trucks were found alive.
Around 98.5% of the rounds were .22 caliber, a low-powered ammunition that is typically used for target practice or hunting small game. Mexican cartels – known more for their heinous acts of violence than for their hobby squirrel hunting – are usually armed with powerful AK-47 and AR-15 rifles that use high-velocity rounds.
A spokesperson for the ammunition’s maker, Tecnos Industries, said that the stolen rounds will be of little use to drug cartels, noting that they don’t use .22-caliber weapons.
But it’s possible that the ammo will still find its way to the black market. In the past, authorities have caught people selling improvised “pen” guns, single-shot weapons disguised as pens that use .22 rounds.