A Yuma man, Ramon Avitia, age 18, was arrested this morning for attempting to smuggle assault weapons out of the United States.
Customs and Border Protection officers and Border Patrol agents conducting outbound operations at the Port of San Luis referred Avitia, for a secondary inspection of the Jeep SUV that he was driving. Avitia was taken into custody after two AK-47 assault rifles and four ammunition magazines were located inside the vehicle. The weapons were hidden under the rear bench seat and the magazines were concealed in the center console.
“The CBP officers and agents working outbound enforcement operations prevented these assault rifles from being illegally exported,” said Robert L. Schroeder, acting port director. “This is an outstanding contribution by our officers and agents on the border and I commend them for this seizure and arrest.”
The vehicle, weapons and magazines were seized. Avitia was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
According to an article in the Reno Gazette-Journal, the ATF office in Yuma, has been closed.
The Reno Gazette-Journal discovered Yuma’s closing during their investigation of the ATF Reno/US Attorney case.
The Gazette reported that Ron Gissendaner, a manager at Sprague’s Sports in Yuma and a federal firearm licensed gun dealer, said “the closing was because the federal prosecutors wouldn’t take the ATF’s cases. He and his staff worked well with the ATF to make sure guns were sold to good guys, not bad guys.”
ATF Special Agent Tom Mangan told the RGJ the Yuma site was closed because it wasn’t busy and didn’t have anything to do with a rift with the US Attorney’s office.