A Texas woman is now set to spend over four years behind bars for her failed attempt to illegally export thousands of rounds of ammo to Mexico, stashed cunningly within a spare tire. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas announced the sentencing of Maria Tapia-Aguilar, a 52-year-old from Channelview, after her conviction for smuggling the vast cache of bullets.
The operation seemed thoroughly planned, yet Tapia-Aguilar's strange driving antics led to her arrest after law enforcement observed her to oddly purchase large quantities of ammunition. Her behavior drew suspicion and eventually to a traffic stop that would unravel her scheme. Upon searching her vehicle, authorities found 3,580 rounds of ammunition cleverly hidden inside the vehicle's spare tire, distributed amongst seven different calibers.
In a statement obtained by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane handed down a 51-month federal prison sentence to be followed by three years of supervised release. "3,500 rounds and seven different calibers – not child’s play," commented U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani, highlighting the potential danger such an act posed to citizens across the border.
During her interaction with law enforcement, Tapia-Aguilar admitted to having previously smuggled ammunition into Mexico. This insight offers a chilling glimpse at the possible scale and frequency of this underground traffic—and the conviction aims to send a clear message that such activity is severely punishable. According to the indictment, she has been ordered to self-surrender to a yet-to-be-determined U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility.
Authorities including Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Texas Department of Public Safety, collaborated closely on the case, showcasing the inter-agency cooperation essential to stemming the flow of illegal arms and ammunition. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cahal P. McColgan spearheaded the prosecution as a part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, a community-focused initiative that aims to strategically reduce violent crime rather than simply accumulate arrests. The recent PSN reinvigoration is part of a wider effort announced by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland back in May 2021 to clamp down on gun violence—a persistent blight on communities both within and beyond U.S. borders.
