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US MILITARY MEN TRY TO SELL ARMS TO MEXICAN DRUG CARTEL; CAUGHT IN TEXAS

U.S. Army explosive specialists attempt selling weapons to Mexican Cartels

For the two soldiers, the plot allegedly began on or around June 6, 2018, when they planned to drive a cache of weapons to El Paso, Texas, in order to sell them to a buyer who would transport them over the U.S. southern border. Sources familiar with the situation told Newsweek they believed the intended goal was to supply the Mexican Cartel.

Jarvis, an active-duty EOD soldier with the 52nd Ordnance Group and assigned to Fort Bragg in North Carolina, is then said to have rented a Chevrolet Tahoe and driven from the Tar Heel State to Inverness, Florida, to meet with Sumlin, a former EOD team leader, according to his Linkedin profile.

The vehicle was packed with firearms, explosives and other military equipment swiped from the Army base, according to the indictment.

The two Army soldiers allegedly met at an Airbnb residence in Florida and combined their respective stolen weapons and explosives together, placing them in storage containers after wiping the firearms clean to remove their fingerprints in preparation for the trip to El Paso.

Once everything was packed in the Chevrolet Tahoe, the two men drove from Florida to Texas and on November 14, 2018, met with undercover agents at a local truck stop in far east El Paso, according to the criminal complaint. Sumlin and Jarvis followed undercover agents to a nearby warehouse to exchange the money for the goods, but upon their arrival, the two Army soldiers were taken into custody without incident. The men were accused of agreeing to sell the stolen firearms, explosives and hardware for $75,000.

In the Facebook chat room Wednesday night, Sumlin told one user that he asked for $250,000, but was talked down to $75,000, and that both he and Jarvis could have received additional charges from the U.S. government.

The criminal complaint says that agents seized 32 rifles of various makes and models and three handguns of different varieties. Silencers, 5 pounds of C-4 explosive and a hand grenade were also among the items seized.

A Defense Department source with knowledge of the serious incident report told Newsweek under the condition of anonymity that among the weapons included M4 carbines; M107 Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifles; a Browning .50 caliber machine gun; night vision goggles; and igniters and blasting caps for the C-4 explosives.

After their arrest, both individuals agreed to make statements without legal representation. The men, according to the indictment, said they both coordinated the sale of multiple firearms with a buyer in El Paso and admitted that they were aware the weapons and explosives were to be exported to Mexico.

Sumlin was slated to make $12,000 from the transaction, while Jarvis’s take on the deal was $2,000 for his participation in the transaction. Law enforcement database found that neither individual possessed a federal firearms license.

“The fact that former and active members of the U.S. military were prepared and attempted to smuggle out of the country this considerable array of equipment and firepower is distressing, in and of itself,” said Brad Moss, an attorney specializing in matters of national security and based in Washington, D.C.

“What is immensely concerning, however, is that they were apparently able to get this equipment out of a U.S. Government facility without anyone originally noticing,” Moss told Newsweek via email after reviewing the indictments. “This speaks to a far greater physical security breach than is made clear by the mere actions of the criminal defendants themselves. Somewhere someone did not properly do their job.”

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2019/03/us-army-explosive-specialists-attempt.html