Valley Raid Uncovers Giant Arms Arsenal
Linked To Secret ‘Armies’
373 Submachine Guns Seized
About 373 submachine guns which State Atty. Gen. Thomas Lynch described as intended for “private armies” in California were seized late Friday in a warehouse in the City of Industry.
State agents assisted by sheriffs, U.S. Marshals, FBI and Treasury agents swooped down on the Erquiaga Arms Co., 15036 Proctor Ave., and confiscated the cache.
Agents counted 373 operable submachine guns which had been manufactured by the company. They also uncovered at least one silencer.
Speed Necessary
Lynch said, “speed was necessary in this raid since our office has definite information that some of these illegal weapons were intended for private armies in California.”
A spokesman in the attorney general’s office said the only known “private armies” in the state were the Minutemen and Rangers. He said the Minutemen have boasted of membership of more than several thousand.
Lynch recently proposed legislation urging the outlawing of extremist organizations.
A spokesman for Lynch said the company did not have a state license for the manufacture, possession, transportation or sale of machine guns.
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Identify Owner
State agents said the company was owned by Juan Erquiaga, who was now believed to be in Guatemala.
According to the agents the seizure was the largest of its type in the history of the United States.
Sheriff’s robbery detective Lt. E. D. Villines said the guns were a combination of a U.S. government issue 45-caliber “grease” gun and a 9mm British Sten gun.
The gun was described as a magazine-fed weapon made from stamped metal parts using a 30-round clip. It has a retractable wire stock developed during World War II.
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Own Described
The gun weighs six pounds, has a 300-yard range, firing 450 rounds-per-minute and is 24 inches long with the stock retracted, Villines said.
Villines said the guns were made to use 9mm ammunition. Several thousand rounds of that size ammunition were found at the plant and were left there since possession of ammunition is not illegal.
Nine mm ammunition is similar to that used in P38 German Luger guns used by German, NATO troops and is slightly smaller than American 30-caliber ammunition.
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Hasted Away
Three pickup trucks were needed to haul the guns to the Sheriff’s Department where they will be stored pending further investigation of possible responsibility of the three employees found working when the raiders entered the plant. No arrests were made Friday.
The deputies and agents were armed with a search warrant obtained late Friday in Citrus Municipal Court.
Employees of the plant told the raiders they had not seen Erquiaga since Feb. 6, but that the plant had been in operation since last October. Villines said the plant had been under investigation several months by federal agents.
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CONFISCATED MACHINE GUNS—Sheriff’s Deputy Frank O’Farrell checks one of the 373 submachine guns taken in a raid at City of Industry gun factory
*Staff photo by Ellen Gannon*
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PASADENA 5-N 3-17-65