Six Volusia County men have been charged with smuggling what prosecutors call military-grade weapons to Mexican drug cartels, according to the Department of Justice.
Prosecutors said DeLand resident Angel Velazquez Delgado, 34, led five others also living in DeLand, in purchasing guns in Florida and Georgia and sending them through Texas to Mexico, where they were used by the La Famila and La Nueva Generacion cartels, according to the news release Tuesday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida.
The men were paid in cash and illegal drugs while also trafficking imported cocaine in Volusia, the release said. They would purchase firearms with profits from selling drugs or money directly supplied by the cartels. Velazquez Delgado initially purchased weapons himself, but eventually had the other men purchase them for him.
The guns included high-caliber, armor-piercing and anti-materiel weapons (designed for use against military equipment and structures). The release stated that the weapons included about 11 Barrett .50 caliber rifles — which can overcome all forms of individually-worn body armor and disable vehicles, aircraft and boats as well as overcome some protections of armored vehicles. About 16 FN M249S rifles — semiautomatics that can easily be converted into machine guns — were also sent, according to the release.
In March 2023, Mexican authorities used the eTrace Firearm Recovery Notification Program to identify a Barrett .50 caliber rifle — recovered from a deadly shootout with suspected La Nueva Generacion members — as purchased by one of the men in 2022, the release said. The men eventually began removing the guns’ serial numbers to prevent them from being tracked.
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The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms began investigating the men when two tried to purchase Barrett .50 caliber rifles from a licensed firearms dealer in Okaloosa County, according to the release. The store owner believed they were attempting to purchase on behalf of Velazquez Delgado, whom the store had just refused to sell the weapon since he’d already purchased several.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol seized Velazquez Delgado’s phone while he was crossing from Mexico to the United States in May 2023 and found messages, audio and photos relating to the trafficking operation, including with a known commandant in the La Nueva Generacion cartel, according to court records.
His phone, along with the phones of at least two of the other men, were later seized with a search warrant and more communications relating to the operation were found, records said.
Velazquez Delgado made an agreement with prosecutors in August, pleading guilty to one count of straw purchasing of firearms and one count of trafficking in firearms. His sentencing is Dec. 18 and he faces a maximum for 40 years in prison.
The five other men were charged with various crimes such as conspiracy, firearms trafficking, straw purchasing and making a false statement on a firearm transaction record. Each faces maximum penalties of between 10 and 60 years in prison.
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