Phoenix man sentenced for trying to smuggle thousands of rounds of ammo into Mexico

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A handgun (file)

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - A 26-year-old Phoenix man has been sentenced to over three years in prison for attempting to take thousands of rounds of ammunition from the United States to Mexico.

A federal judge in Tucson sentenced Mauricio Robles on Wednesday on his July 26 guilty plea.

According to a complaint filed by a Homeland Security Investigations agent, Robles was the owner of a vehicle stopped by the Arizona Department of Public Safety on Interstate 10 near Eloy for unlawful window tint on May 4, 2020.

Robles was a passenger in his car, which was being driven by another man when it was stopped, the complaint said.

The complaint said the car’s back end appeared to be low, and a search disclosed that the trunk was full of nearly 6,000 rounds of four kinds of ammunition.

The complaint said Robles acknowledged knowing there was ammunition in the vehicle and said he had agreed to be paid for having his car used to transport the ammunition to Rio Rico so another person could smuggle it into Mexico.

The driver of Robles’ car at the time it was stopped was sentenced in September to nearly six years in prison.