Eagle Pass woman arrested for transporting arms and charged with federal complaint

By: Jose G. Landa
An Exclusive Eagle Pass Business Journal News Story/Copyright 2013

Eagle Passan, Cindy Trevino Salazar, age 30, was arrested this weekend by the Zavala County Sheriff’s Department for transporting 10 assault rifles, four rifle bullet magazines, and armored vests while stopped for a traffic violation in Zavala County, Texas as she was traveling from San Antonio to Eagle Pass.

Trevino Salazar was driving a Chevrolet Malibu automobile and was turned over to U.S. Border Patrol agents to be charged with federal arms transportation felony charges in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Del Rio Division, in Del Rio, Texas.

Trevino Salazar told federal agents that she was hired by an arms smuggler and was going to get paid $1,500 for transporting the arms contraband from San Antonio to Eagle Pass and deliver them in Eagle Pass where someone else unknown to her was supposed to cross them into Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico.

Trevino Salazar appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Collis White of the Western District of Texas, Del Rio Division, in Del Rio where she was read the federal criminal complaint against her and advised of the maximum penalties, fines, and fees she faces for these charges and was granted a conditional release on a $20,000 bond.

This arms transportation and smuggling case highlights the severity of the illegal arms smuggling problem facing both the United States and Mexico. Local persons, including women, are recruited by arms smugglers to transport the illegal arms from the United States to the Texas-Mexico border and ultimately into Mexico.