Rifle found at El Chapo hideout tied to Fast and Furious ATF operation

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has confirmed that one of the guns Mexican officials say was found at the hideout of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is associated with Fast and Furious, a botched gun-smuggling operation.

The department said in a letter to Congress that a .50-caliber rifle recovered after El Chapo’s arrest in January has been traced back to Fast and Furious.

Officials say the weapon was one of 19 firearms recovered from the hideout and was the only one determined to be connected. It was bought in 2010 by someone not known to ATF at the time.

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Fast and Furious was a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation in which the agency allowed gun-runners to buy weapons in hopes of tracking them and disrupting gun smuggling rings.