In a letter to Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and Senator Charles Grassley, ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich confirmed Operation Fast and Furious started on November 16, 2009 has resulted in a number of violent crimes in Mexico. From the letter:
-Crime date January 8, 2010: four firearms purchased by targets in Operation Fast and Furious were recovered in Baja Californa, Mexico. These were traced with the crime code, "Kidnap/Ransom." The firearms used in the Jan. 8 crime were purchased on December 14, 2009 and November 24, 2009.
-Crime date February 25, 2010: three firearms purchased by targets in Operation Fast and Furious were recovered in Baja California, Mexico. Two of these firearms were traced with the crime code "Homicide-Attempted." On of these guns was purchased on February 25, 2010.
-Crime date July 26, 2010: .50 caliber purchased by a target in Operation Fsat and Furious was recovered in Durango, Mexico, and traced with the code "Firing a Weapon." This gun was purchased on March 19, 2010.
-Crime date May 27, 2011: three firearms purchased by targets in Operation Fast and Furious were recovered in Jalisco, Mexico and were traced with the code, "Firing a weapon." The guns were purchased on August 5, 2010, August 16, 2010 and August 4, 2010.
Reich sent the letter in response to Questions for the Record of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on May 4, 2011 and a letter sent to Reich by Issa and Grassley on August 16, 2011 surrounding Operation Fast and Furious. Reich also admitted that ATF has not conducted a "comprehensive, independent investigation into each incidient and it is possuble that there may be other such recoveries not reflected within this data."
These are only the crimes we know about now, remember, 2000 guns were trafficked to and then lost in Mexico as a result of Operation Fast and Furious and can only be recovered when they are left at violent crime scenes. The crimes described above are just the tip of the iceberg.
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