HomeNewsBriefEl Salvador Soldiers 'Selling Guns to Drug Gangs'
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El Salvador Soldiers 'Selling Guns to Drug Gangs'

EL SALVADOR / 30 MAY 2011 BY HANNAH STONE EN

El Salvador's army arrested six soldiers on suspicion of trying to steal more than 1,800 hand grenades to sell to drug trafficking organizations.

Defence Minister David Munguia Payes said that the operation had involved eight months of intelligence work, reports La Prena Grafica.

The detained men, two of whom were officers, were involved in exercises to destroy obselete weapons. They are accused of hiding the arms, instead of disposing of them.

Munguia said that military intelligence had dealt a strong blow to an entrenched group that was trying to sell weapons to "organized crime, gangs, and narco-traffickers."

Elements in both Guatemala's and Honduras' military are accused of supplying weapons to drug cartels, as InSight has reported.

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