A Mexican man was sentenced to seven years in federal prison for coordinating the purchase of dozens of guns in San Antonio and smuggling them into Mexico.
DEL RIO, Texas — A Mexican national has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for trafficking firearms from the United States into Mexico, federal officials said.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, 42-year-old Martin Edgar Garza Pacheco of Coahuila, Mexico, was sentenced to 84 months in prison in federal court in Del Rio.
Investigators say Garza Pacheco coordinated the purchase of dozens of firearms in the San Antonio area before smuggling them across the border.
Court documents show Garza Pacheco used two co-conspirators, Shiddartha Salinas Avila and Victor Ulysses Ybarra-Daniels, to buy 36 firearms from retail stores around San Antonio. Prosecutors said Garza Pacheco would travel from Mexico to San Antonio through the Eagle Pass Port of Entry before transporting the guns back into Mexico in his vehicle.
Garza Pacheco was arrested in April 2023 and later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic firearms.
Two other men connected to the case have also been sentenced. Ybarra-Daniels received a 48-month prison sentence, while Salinas Avila was sentenced to 42 months in 2025.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.