05/07/08

PHOENIX (AP) _ A Phoenix gun shop's been closed down after the
owner was arrested, accused of providing hundreds of guns to drug
cartels in Mexico.

Some 1,300 weapons were seized during raids at X Caliber Guns
and the owner's home.

Two brothers accused of working for a Mexican drug cartel also
were arrested. They allegedly recruited ``straw buyers'' to go into
gun store and purchase weapons that would then be trafficked to the
cartels.

Bond for gun shop owner George Iknadosian (ICH'-nah-doze-ian)
was set at $75,000. A judge also ordered electronic monitoring of
the 46-year-old Glendale man if released on bail.

Bond for each of the two brothers, both Mexican citizens in this
country legally, was set at $100,000.

Investigators allege Iknadosian sold at lest 650 guns to drug
cartels through straw buyers.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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