700 Illegal Weapons Found in Uruguay

S E C R E T MONTEVIDEO 000615 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/11/05 TAGS: SNAR ASEC MASS PGOV UY BR SUBJECT: 700 Illegal Weapons Found in Uruguay CLASSIFIED BY: Robin Matthewman, Charge de Affairs, CDA; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) Summary -------------- ¶1. (S) Uruguayan police confiscated over 700 firearms October 30- November 1, including handguns, shotguns, military style rifles, grenades, rocket propelled grenades, and ammunition from what appears to have been an arms trafficking operation. At least five of the confiscated weapons are reported to have been of Uruguayan military issue. The seizure is a demonstration of the GOU's rising capacity to detect organized crime, and the ongoing investigation will be a test of its ability to prosecute it. The size and content of the cache of weapons underlines the importance of post's weapon destruction program. End Summary. Two caches with a total of over 700 weapons -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) On October 30, Uruguayan National Police and Firemen responded to a house fire in the Cerrito de La Victoria neighborhood in Montevideo (10 km from the Embassy). Upon searching the house, a large cache of weapons was discovered. Documents discovered during the search led police to a house in Shangrila, Canelones, located only 3 km from the Montevideo neighborhood of Carrasco, where many embassy employees reside. ¶3. (U) On October 31, two members of the Uruguayan National Police went to the house in Shangrila to further the investigation. There they encountered an Uruguayan citizen (Saul Feldman, 64) the apparent owner of the house. A confrontation ensued, with shots being fired between the police and Feldman, during which one of the officers was mortally wounded. Feldman then barricaded himself in the house and a standoff ensued until the morning hours of Sunday, November 1, when Feldman was killed in another shootout (some press reports indicate he killed himself, once surrounded). Police then entered the house and discovered another large cache of weapons. ¶4. (U) To date, more than 700 firearms have been confiscated by the police from both houses, including handguns, shotguns, military style rifles, grenades, rocket propelled grenades, and ammunition. At least five weapons are reported to have belonged to the Uruguayan military. A parallel investigation on weapons belonging to the military has been launched. ¶5. (S ) A source told the RSO that approximately 50 Colt 45 handguns, still in their cases, belonging to the Uruguayan military, were discovered in the searches. The source stated that a full accounting of the weapons is going to take at least another 24 hours and the total amount of weapons confiscated could reach over 1,000 in total. Through an RSO locally engaged staff, Uruguayan authorities requested the help of the Embassy in tracing the weapons. RSO has agreed to help, but has not yet been approached by the GOU. ¶6. (S) Official Uruguayan identity cards asserting four different identities with the same picture were found in the house in Montevideo. A separate RSO source confirmed the existence of the different identities and RSO is attempting to obtain information on each. Press reports indicate that the identity cards are expired. The Investigation -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Uruguay's Special Court for Organized Crime has created an investigative committee including participants from the Central Bank, the Money Laundering Secretariat, intelligence agencies, and Montevideo and Canelones police. There has of yet been no official announcement of the suspect's activity, but most observers suspect that this was an arms trafficking operation, with many voices in the media suggesting Brazil as the final destination for the arms. Note: Media coverage of recent violence in Rio de Janeiro's favelas may be a factor in much-voiced suspicions that the arms were headed to Brazil. End note. The investigation will also address Feldman's decision to engage in an hours-long shoot-out that ended with his death, considering that arms trafficking is not a codified crime in Uruguay and he would have likely received a short sentence, if any. Comment -------------- ¶8. (SBU) This is Uruguay's first encounter with an arm's seizure of this magnitude. Post has long been aware of the risk of out-of-use military weapons somehow leaving the control of the military, and designed a weapons destruction/repatriation program to combat this threat. Under this program DOD has repatriated 11,600 M-1 rifles in 2008 that were no longer in use by the Uruguayan military, and post is awaiting approval from PM/FO to start the destruction (melt down) of 6,700 U.S.-made light weapons including rifles, submachine guns, and pistols. The program will include the destruction of 50 tons of outdated munitions. End comment. MATTHEWMAN