Gunrunner Part Two:

Part 2: Smuggler's luck ends at the Mexican border

June 17, 2010 As federal officers took their time searching Paul Giovanni de la Rosa's silver minivan, a steady stream of motorists passed by, unaware that anything beyond a routine inspection was happening at the side of the road.

They had no reason to suspect that the man waiting as the agents combed through his van was among what federal officials say is a growing number of American gunrunners who supply the rich bosses of the Mexican drug cartels with firearms they cannot obtain in their own country.

Each day this iron pipeline pumps 2,000 firearms into Mexico, into the hands of drug lords protecting a narcotics trade worth as much as $30 billion a year, Mexican officials say. Continued

Part 1 of this Four Part Series: Gunrunner: From southern Minnesota to Mexico