The man who bought two of the rifles connected to the Fast and Furious gun-smuggling ring was sentenced to just under five years in jail on Wednesday.
Jaime Avila Jr. pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and selling guns without a license in connection with the shooting death of Agent Bryan Terry near the Arizona-Mexico border in 2010, reported
Fox News.
Avila was one of several “straw buyers” in the Fast and Furious operation, run out of Arizona by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The buyers were permitted by authorities to purchase guns they said were meant for them, but actually were being taken to Mexico to be sold to drug cartels.
ATF officials allowed at least 1,400 weapons to be purchased and resold on the black market in an effort to track down the leaders of Mexico’s brutal drug gangs.
Terry was killed in Dec. 2010 in a firefight between border patrol agents and five men who crossed the border from Mexico to rob marijuana smugglers. Two AK-47s that Avila had purchased were found at the scene.
Five men were charged in Terry’s death, though officials have not said which of the men is believed to have fired the shot that killed the agent.
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