A man who played a leading role in the smuggling of AR-15 and AK-74 rifles from North Texas into Mexico was sentenced Wednesday to five years in federal prison, the U.S. attorney’s office in Dallas said.

Jose Maria DeLeon, 57, was involved with the trafficking of more than 600 firearms. So far, 50 of them have been recovered in Mexico, federal authorities said.

DeLeon bought hundreds of firearm receivers and paid others to turn them into fully-functional firearms, authorities said. He then sold them for a profit to people who smuggled them across the border into Mexico, authorities said.

DeLeon, of Camp Wood, Texas, has been in custody since October 2014 on a related federal criminal complaint.

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015/09/firearms-trafficker-given-prison-time-for-smuggling-rifles-from-north-texas-gun-shows-to-mexico.html/