While Mexican government officials continue to point to the United States as the main source of weapons for drug cartels, a federal indictment filed in a U.S. court in Virginia revealed that a Bulgarian arms trafficker was providing terrorist cartels with catalogues of weapons that included rocket launchers, surface-to-air weapons systems, and tanks.
The indictment filed against Peter Dimitrov Mirchev and two co-conspirators from Africa reveals a complex operation to supply Mexico’s Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) with high-end military weapons, including machine guns, rocket launchers, grenades, night vision equipment, sniper rifles, anti-personnel mines, and anti-aircraft weapons. CJNG is designated by the U.S. Department of State as a foreign terrorist organization.
The conspiracy began in 2022, when Mirchev and his associates met with representatives of CJNG and planned the purchase of weapons. The group had a test run where they sent 50 AK-47 rifles to cartel gunmen in Mexico. In order to get the weapons into the hands of the cartel gunmen, Mirchev would have his associates provide false documents to show that the weapons were sold from Bulgaria to various countries in Africa, while in reality, the weapons were sent to Mexico to the waiting hands of CJNG. Using the false documents, the group would create a paper trail to show that the weapons had been sent to the Republic of Tanzania for military use.
The weapons relation continued with Mirchev planning more weapons sales to CJNG that included some that were meant to go from the Government of Russia to Uganda. The weapons included rocket launchers, surface-to-air weapons systems, and other weapons. In preparation for the sale, Mirchev prepared a list of weapons available to CJNG, valued at more than $58 million.
Spanish authorities arrested Mirchev on March 8 in Europe and had him extradited to the United States, where, if convicted, he is facing a possible sentence of ten years to life in prison. Authorities also arrested one of Mirchev’s associates in Africa and are searching for a second associate.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
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