ATF seizes grenade launcher, 'machine-gun pistols' in Laredo

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Two men are in police custody for allegedly trying to sell a cache of high-powered firearms to an undercover federal agent in Laredo, Texas, this week.

The guns include a grenade launcher and four modified "machine gun pistols." The guns were purchased in the Dallas area and delivered in San Antonio to a man identified as Luis Azael Berlanga, court records show.

Berlanga brought the guns to Laredo and hired Juan Jose Moreno Jr. to help sell them, a complaint affidavit filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas alleges.

The men found an individual they believed would pay them $10,000 for the guns. They went to an address on the 4000 block of Zapata Memorial Highway in Laredo and displayed their wares to the buyer, the complaint alleges.

The buyer inspected the guns, which included a Diamondback Firearms DB-15 pistols, two Anderson Manufacturing AM-15 pistols, a Pioneer Arms Hellpup 7.62 mm pistol and a 37 mm grenade launcher. The customer, who was really an undercover Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent, allegedly verified the pistols were equipped with a drop-in auto-sear for continuous firing.

While Berlanga was counting the $10,000 he received from the agent, a tactical team from the Laredo Police Department assisted by the ATF and the Border Patrol moved in. Team members seized the guns, verified they had the auto-sears and conducted tests finding they functioned like a machine gun, court records show.

During interviews with investigators, Berlanga allegedly stated he knew the pistols had devices installed to make them work like machine guns and that he drove from San Antonio to Laredo to sell them, the criminal complaint alleges.

Moreno allegedly told authorities that Berlanga was going to pay him $100 for helping him sell the guns. Moreno said he had previously assisted Berlanga in selling a Glock with a special switch for continuous fire, the complaint alleges.

The two men have been charged with illegal possession of a machine gun. A preliminary hearing was set for May 24 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Diana Song Quiroga in Laredo.