A case of police corruption in South Texas raises a curious scenario, as reported by Jeremy Roebuck at the McAllen Monitor ("
Feds: Pharr police officer sold weapons to drug cartels," July 13):
A Pharr police officer arrested last week was working as a middleman for Mexican drug traffickers seeking military-grade weapons, the FBI said Monday.
Jaime Beas, a six-year veteran of the force, allegedly brokered a deal to purchase an M-16 assault rifle and a bulletproof vest being sold by undercover agents he thought were U.S. Marines.
Authorities arrested the 33-year-old officer Friday in McAllen but released few details about his case over the weekend.
I know, another corrupt South Texas cop: Same song, zillionth verse. But the especially fascinating part of the feds' sting relates to what happened with the weapons and bulletproof vest the officer was selling: Apparently they let the cartel buyer get away with them scot-free. Roebuck reports that federal agents were alerted by Beas' uncle that the officer was looking for weapons to sell to a man dubbed "El Cubano." The feds apparently contacted the would-be buyer and "urged the man to set up the deal," so he was apparently working as an FBI informant during the transaction, meaning he had a designated "handler" coordinating his actions. That's why it seems a somewhat dubious, as Roebuck reports, that El Cubano was allowed to:
leave the deal with weapons in tow. There is no mention of his arrest in Beas’ charging documents. “There are some serious questions raised about the treatment of the purchaser of this equipment,” [Beas' attorney] said.
A local FBI spokesman did not return calls for comment Monday on the outcome of “El Cubano’s” involvement in the case or how agents first began investigating Beas.
Was El Cubano an informant? Is that why the FBI let a delivery of M-16s and body armor go through to his cartel-bosses? Otherwise, losing the merchandise fronted by undercover agents during such a transaction seems like a huge flaw in the operation. Is the same guy still out there buying guns and body armor for the drug cartels?
Quien sabe?
Typical Feeb maneuver. Not interested in stopping future crime, as long as they make that arrest.
ReplyDeleteI can see how the guy would get away, but why is it they gave him ACTUAL firearms and vests. They do make props and non-firing weapons in this day and age...
ReplyDeleteGreatness would be a mexican druglord wearing a 'bullet-proof' vest made from linen or paper inserts...
Same ole, same ole soup du jour for the valley. From the state lawmakers to the local municipalities, counties and prisons. Pretty much everyone's a scumbag crook.
ReplyDeleteAre you really that dense to think the feds would let him walk away. Whether he was informant or arrested later, the feds got him too.
ReplyDeleteacrgv
@7/18 - Not until the guns and body armor were distributed to their purchaser, I bet.
ReplyDelete