Border agents continue to confiscate guns being smuggled out of U.S.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized in the last two years through June over 400 handguns and long arms, nearly 1,000 magazines and gun parts, and nearly 52,000 rounds of ammunition.
The agency's "core function" is to keep Americans safe by "ensuring that weapons and terrorists do not enter the United States," Thomas Mahn, CBP's area port director for Galveston and the Port of Houston, said in a statement.
CBP's port officers stationed at the seaport in Houston and Galveston continue to seize its "large numbers" of guns, weapons and parts as attempted traffickers take steps to cross the border into Mexico.
Officials pointed to Honduras as a primary location of the guns.
Border officials added there's a likelihood that weapon shipments directed to other nations, such as Honduras, could "fuel chaos and contribute to escalating violence and instability in regions already grappling with security challenges."
America's border office says the illegal smuggling of guns is often carried out by masking the weapons within shipments of otherwise legitimate goods in shipping containers.
As an example, CBP officials also pointed to some 20 rounds of .45 ACP ammunition on its way to Honduras recently discovered hidden in a shipment of used household goods. It said another Honduras-bound seizure scored two pistols, two scopes, five magazines, one red-dot sight and 117 ammunition rounds, while a third shipment uncovered 769 rounds.
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