Crime Time

'We got drugs coming north and guns going south'

The break-in at Cheaper Than Dirt Thursday wasn't the only robbery this week of a gun shop in Fort Worth.

Military Gun Supply, which was robbed early Tuesday, was also burglarized in July.

A fourth burglary was reported in November at Trader Jim Pawn Shop.

The haul at Cheap Than Dirt included 19 handguns, including 1911-style pistols like the one pictured at right.

It makes us wonder where all this ill-gotten firepower is going.

Federal agents say it may be ending up in the hands of various end users, including south-of-the-border drug cartels.

"We got drugs coming north," one agent said, "and guns going south."

Click here to see KXAS/ Channel 5's report by Omar Villafranca, which includes video surveillance footage from the CTD heist.

-- Bill Miller

3 gun store burglaries since July on or near Loop 820

Today's break-in at Cheaper Than Dirt, just of off North Loop 820, marks the third time in the past nine months that burglars broke into a Fort Worth gun store and stole weapons.

The first one that we can recall was in July. Store employees at Military Gun Supply in the 3800 block of East Loop 820, reported that several firearms were taken, including semiautomatic rifles and pistols. Someone rolled a boulder into the front of the store (right).

Then in November, semiautomatic rifles and other merchandise were stolen by black-clad men who used a pickup to break into Trader Jim Pawn Shop in the 1000 block of South Handley Drive. That location is about two miles north of Military Gun Supply.

A witness told police that the men pulled up to the shop in a black pickup, which they used to pull the roll-down door away from the building, police said. The witness said the men loaded several firearms and drove off in the truck.

In today's burglary at Cheaper Than Dirt, two people were seen prying open the front door and then breaking a glass showcase inside. They took 19 handguns, according to a federal agent.

The similarities in all of these burglaries are not just that a bunch of guns were stolen. The three businesses are all located on or near Loop 820.

Check back for more updates.

-- Bill Miller