Criminal Group Allegedly Tied With Mexican Boxer Set Up Warehouses To Adapt Arms Smuggled From U.S.

The criminal group allegedly tied with Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., arrested in California earlier this month, had set up warehouses to adapt arms smuggled from the U.S.

Local outlet La Jornada detailed that the group was led by Martin Leon Romero, who began activities in 2018 in Sinaloa. The network has ties with Ivan Archivaldo and Ovidio Guzman Lopez, sons of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. It specialized in adapting rifles and grenade launchers, which were then distributed among cartel cells, the outlet added.

The report also quoted the prosecutor's office saying that Romero coordinated the smuggling of arms, which were bought mostly in Tucson, Arizona, and then brought to Nogales, Sonora.

The group hired people living in the U.S. who used local credit cards and addresses to buy guns and ammo online. They were then picked up by cartel operatives who smuggled the weapons across the border. Once in Mexico, the weapons were disarmed so as to replicate the pieces and craft replicas.

The outlet did not detail how Chavez Jr. was believed to be connected with the organization. He was apprehended by authorities on July 2, with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) saying he would be deported due to his irregular migratory status.

The agency detailed in a statement that Chavez, a former boxing world champion, also has an "active arrest warrant in Mexico for his involvement in organized crime and trafficking firearms, ammunition, and explosives."

The document adds that Chavez filed an application for Lawful Permanent Resident status in April last year based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen who, nonetheless, DHS said is connected to the Sinaloa Cartel "through a prior relationship with the now-deceased son of the infamous cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman."

In this context, Mexican investigative journalist Anabel Hernández detailed that Chávez Jr. married Frida Muñoz, who was previously married to Édgar Guzmán López, one of El Chapo's sons who was killed in 2008. According to Hernández, Édgar was considered to be the drug lord's favorite son, and Muñoz was allowed to remain part of the family's inner circle after his death.

The journalist also suggested the possibility that Chávez Jr.'s residence in the United States could be connected to agreements made between U.S. authorities and Ovidio Guzmán, another son of "El Chapo," as part of his ongoing legal proceedings.

Mexican top prosecutor Alejandro Gertz Manero noted that he tried to get help from its U.S. counterpart regarding investigations tying the boxer with several crimes. "They didn't listen to us until they detained him," he said.