MIAMI – A sting by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Miami led agents to bust a conspiracy to smuggle guns to Brazil, according to federal court documents.
Alvaro Teixeira, 49, is now facing two federal charges.
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According to a federal criminal complaint filed Friday in Miami federal court, Teixeira first contacted a confidential source online and asked him about smuggling weapons out of the country.
Prosecutors said Teixeira “and one of his co-conspirators” met the informant at the unnamed co-conspirator’s apartment on March 6. Court documents state the informant introduced Teixeira to an undercover ATF agent and Teixeira told the agent that he wanted to smuggle firearms and firearm parts to Brazil.
Teixeira’s plan was to “start exporting two firearms per week and eventually go up to ten” per week, ATF agents allege.
Prosecutors said he left two guns at the source’s apartment and called the informant on March 20 to say he wanted to provide him with 10 more to smuggle to Brazil, offering him $15,000 if he successfully took the guns south.
The source met with the co-conspirator at the latter’s apartment on March 22 to consolidate the guns, authorities said. The informant provided law enforcement a video of the co-conspirator packing the weapons, they said.
ATF agents executed a search warrant on the apartment on March 27 and recovered eight guns, the complaint states.
Authorities said on Monday, the undercover agent, source and Teixeira agreed to meet in Miami on Thursday so Texeira could give him the 10 guns in person.
According to the complaint, Teixeira drove from Orlando to Miami and was taken into custody after giving the undercover agent the guns as agreed.
Authorities said during an interview at the ATF’s Miami field office, Teixeira admitted to the conspiracy.
Teixeira is now facing charges of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and smuggling goods from the United States.
The counts carry maximum prison terms of five and 10 years, respectively.
As of Saturday, Teixeira was being held in the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami.