Law enforcement officials believe two men arrested Oct. 23 in Denton were attempting to smuggle guns and ammunition into Mexico, according to the Denton Record Chronicle.
Arrested were Victor Manuel Villalpando, 29, of Burleson and Noberto Estrada, 24, of Fort Worth.Trooper David Farrell conducted a traffic stop on the pair’s GMC Yukon on Interstate 35W near Farm-to-Market Road 407 because the truck had no front license plate.Villalpando did not have a valid driver license and both seemed unduly nervous, Farrell said. Farrell received permission to search the truck, but as he began the search, Villalpando ran away.Farrell found thousands of rounds of ammunition, more than a dozen assault rifles, several other weapons, ski masks and body armor in the truck. An inventory of the impounded vehicle later uncovered about 11,000 rounds of ammunition, numerous long guns and three handguns. About half the weapons are AK-47 rifles, police said.Farrell arrested Estrada at the scene. A helicopter and officers from several Denton County law enforcement agencies searched for Villalpando and later found him hiding in a muddy creek bed.The serial numbers on most of the weapons, which were not manufactured in the United States, had been obliterated, police said.Villalpando faces charges of possession of a prohibited weapon, unlawfully carrying a weapon, evading arrest and tampering with identification numbers on personal property. Estrada faces the same charges save evading arrest. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives plans to add charges of possession of weapons with obliterated serial numbers and conspiracy to possess weapons with obliterated serial numbers to the state charges, said ATF spokesman Tom Crowley.
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