JUAREZ, Mexico (Border Report) – Federal authorities are investigating the possible organized crime links of a 19-year-old man caught with 63 bogus U.S. and Mexican passports.
Juarez police late last week arrested Luis Alberto Alvarado Holguin, 19, while looking for street drug dealers in a neighborhood just south of the Rio Grande.
Alvarado allegedly pulled out a gun after being stopped for questioning by officers in a city patrol car and then took off running. The officers chased the teen to a house a few blocks away from the river and took him into custody without shots being fired, according to a police report shared by city authorities.
Police took Alvarado’s 9mm gun and allegedly found a suitcase in the house that contained two additional guns – a .380 and a .25 caliber — a bag with 8.2 ounces of marijuana, 54 Mexican passports and nine U.S. passports. City authorities said the passports appear to be fake.
Chihuahua Deputy Attorney General Jorge Nava on Tuesday said Alvarado has been turned over to federal authorities. He said he didn’t know if the fake documents were intended for retail sale or are part of a migrant or drug smuggling operation.
The guns were sent to a police lab to determine if they were used in recent unsolved homicides.
