A Mexican man faces up to 30 years behind bars after pleading guilty to gun smuggling and international money laundering charges. Jesus Angel Vasquez Balganon, 33, entered the plea in a Tucson federal court, admitting to illegally shipping firearms and ammunition from the U.S. to Mexico and laundering the cash proceeds, announced by the Department of Justice on March 29.
Between March 2018 and January 2021, Vasquez Balganon exported and attempted to export dozens of weapons that were later found in Mexico, a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona detailed. On a specific incident on April 6, 2021, he was caught with high-capacity magazines hidden in his vehicle at an Arizona port of entry.
During his arrest, Vasquez Balganon confessed he expected to pocket $100 for trafficking the ammo magazines into a Mexico, as per the U.S. Attorney's Office report. The contraband, designated as illegal for export by U.S. law, included an array of firearms—among them, a machinegun and an AK-103 style firearm—as well as over 20,000 rounds of ammo and more than 200 magazines, none of which he had license to export.
Additionally, Vasquez Balganon admitted to transferring $20,680 from a U.S. bank to a bank in Mexico to finance these illicit activities. If convicted, he could receive a maximum penalty of 10 years for the smuggling charge and 20 years for the money laundering charge, with each carrying a fine of up to $250,000.
This case falls under Project Safe Neighborhoods' umbrella, a federal initiative aimed at reducing violent crime across the nation. Homeland Security Investigations led the probe into Vasquez Balganon's operations with Assistant United States Attorney Raquel Arellano overseeing the prosecution.
