100 weapons, 125,000 rounds of ammo seized in Arizona gun trafficking busts

PHOENIX (KNXV) -- A Homeland Security Task Force announced the outcome of a two-year investigation in Arizona to stop cross-border firearms trafficking, including five indictments and the seizure of guns and ammunition.

The main case involves 21 defendants, including Fernando Daniel Castro, 24, of Phoenix, and alleged co-conspirators. Castro is accused of recruiting and paying others to act as straw purchasers, who go through legal channels to buy guns with the intent to illegally transfer them to someone else.

Several defendants in the case made repeated purchases of multiple firearms at different gun stores in the Valley, according to the indictment.

Federal agents allege Castro sold some of the firearms knowing, or having reason to believe, they would be smuggled out of the country.

Homeland Security agents say they seized 100 weapons and more than 125,000 rounds of ammunition in Arizona as part of this case. They said they made arrests in both the U.S. and Mexico.

"Every single illegal firearm and round taken off the street today represents potential lives saved," said Jason T. Stevens, the special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in Arizona.

The investigation involved multiple federal agencies and the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.

"We know criminal organizations in Mexico are well-funded, and their tentacles are stretched into our communities," said A.J. Gibes, the special agent in charge of the ATF Phoenix Division. "It takes a network to defeat a network."

The task force Investigation that led to the Castro indictment grew out of four earlier federal cases involving seven other defendants.

In one prior case, a man, trying to cross into Mexico, was stopped at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales in February 2025. The criminal complaint said he was transporting 42 AK-47-style rifles and 42 ammunition magazines in his van.

Several of the defendants have already pleaded guilty in their cases.