DOJ Looks to Possibly Merge the DEA and ATF, Memo Reveals

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

US Justice Department considers merging DEA, ATF in major shakeup, a memo says. This comes amidst previous comments by FBI Director Kash Patel of combining a portion of the ATF into the FBI. FBI Director Kash Patel is also serving as the ATF's Acting Director, in an unusual dual role.

Trump has nominated Terry Cole, a longtime law enforcement veteran, to lead the DEA, though he has not yet named a permanent head of the ATF.

The potential merger of the ATF and DEA would represent one of the biggest shakeups of the Justice Department's law enforcement components since following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

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The Gun Trail

CNN's Ed Lavandera drives the streets of Houston with an ATF agent tracking illegal guns from the U.S. to Mexico.

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Explosives Busts Show Demand for Grenades

Illegal market for explosives not isolated to Mexico

Associated Press

 
Authorities say the arrests of three men who allegedly sold casings for 23 hand grenades this week in metropolitan Phoenix is a reminder that the illegal market for explosives isn't isolated to Mexico.

Investigators say the three men sold grenade shells to undercover police for $400 each and were under the impression that the components were going to be smuggled into Mexico, where the government there is waging war against drug cartels that have sought heavier weapons to battle back against the military.

Even though the grenade casings were suspected to have been bought legally at a military surplus store and lacked key parts to make them functioning explosives, police said the men broke the law by saying the shells were live explosives.

‘‘They didn't state that anything was missing. That's something we found out (later) through our bomb technicians,'' said Harold Sanders, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which is leading the investigation.

Federal agents who investigate explosives cases say they will periodically come across people wanting to buy or sell grenades in Arizona, one of the country's busiest hubs for marijuana smuggling and where drug cartels send people to buy guns that are later sneaked into Mexico.

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