By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The failed gun-walking operation known as Fast and Furious has been linked to a .50-caliber rifle found at the hideout of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
The Justice Department shared the information in a letter to Congress, the Associated Press reports.
The gun was among 19 firearms that Mexican authorities found at the hideout.
The botched sting operation allowed gun-runners to purchase weapons so that authorities could track them to drug smuggling rings.
The Justice Department said the gun was purchased in July 2010.
Nearly 900 firearms bought during the operation have been recovered.
“ATF and the department deeply regret that firearms associated with Operation Fast and Furious have been used by criminals in the commission of violent crimes, particularly crimes resulting in the deaths of civilians and law enforcement officials,” Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik, head of the Justice Department’s legislative affairs office, wrote in a March 15 letter.
