Two Mexican nationals pulled over in a routine traffic stop in Colorado were found with 180,000 illegal rounds of ammunition in the back of their van, according to federal prosecutors.
Caesar Ramon Martinez Solis, 41, and Humberto Ivan Amador Gavira, 24, were pulled over late last month for failing to dim their headlights and using a turn signal in Canon City, 35 miles southwest of Colorado Springs, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Colorado.
Officers then found 180 boxes stacked in the back of the van — each labeled as having 1,000 rounds of ammo, mostly .308 but also 30 boxes of 7.62, the feds said.
The men, from Durango in Mexico, were in the US on nonimmigrant visas, according to an affidavit obtained by the Canon City Daily Record.
After speaking to a translator, Solis, the driver, agreed to waive his rights and speak without an attorney to Homeland Security agents, the affidavit said.
He said he and Gavira, his brother-in-law, first traveled from Mexico to Denver on March 25, before heading to Salt Lake City, Utah, in search of a van to buy, the documents said.
Gavira then bought the ammo at a firearms store in Utah, Solis allegedly told the agent.
Solis “further explained that he did not know the intent with the ammunition but that he believed it was destined for Pueblo” in Colorado, claiming not to know exactly where or why, the affidavit states.
Solis and Gavira were both charged with unlawful possession of ammunition by alien admitted under a nonimmigrant visa, the feds said.
Both men were transported to a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility.
Solis was hit with a further citation for operating an uninsured vehicle, transporting hazardous materials without a permit, improper use of auxiliary lighting, failure to dim his lights, operating a vehicle without license plate lamps and failing to use a turn signal.
Gavira was also cited for aiding in the violation of hazardous materials laws.
Their case is part of Operation Take Back America — a nationwide scheme that brings together the full resources of the Department of Justice to end illegal immigration, destroy drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect the American people from violent criminals.
