"Fast and Furious" Grenades Case

CBS News has been reporting on the scandalous "Fast and Furious" operation which now encompasses grenades.

A U.S. citizen named Jean Baptiste Kingery, 40, has been accused of smuggling parts for 2,000 grenades into Mexico for the drug cartels.

Law enforcement sources say Kingery could have been prosecuted in the U.S. twice for violating export control laws, but that, each time, prosecutors in Arizona refused to make a case.

Grenades are weapons-of-choice for the cartels. An attack on Aug. 25 in a Monterrey, Mexico casino killed 53 people.

Sources tell CBS News that, in January 2010, ATF had Kingery under surveillance after he bought about 50 grenade bodies and headed to Mexico. But they say prosecutors wouldn't agree to make a case. So, as ATF agents looked on, Kingery and the grenade parts crossed the border -- and simply disappeared.

Six months later, Kingery allegedly got caught leaving the U.S. for Mexico with 114 disassembled grenades in a tire. One ATF agent told investigators he literally begged prosecutors to keep Kingery in custody this time, fearing he was supplying narco-terrorists, but was again ordered to let Kingery go.

Mexican authorities finally raided Kingery's house and grenade factory in August. He's been charged with arms trafficking.

Expect more to come out on the "Fast and Furious" grenades case.

Companion post at GunWatch.