Mexican drug cartels pay Americans to smuggle weapons across the border, intelligence documents show

CBS Reports: Mexican drug cartels have been smuggling weapons out of the U.S. with the help of American citizens.

Dozens of cartel gunrunning networks, operating like terrorist cells, pay Americans to buy weapons from gun stores and online dealers across the country.

The U.N. government has known this for years but has done little to stop these weapons trafficking networks inside the United States , sources say.

ATF director: "ATF is committed to stopping as many guns as possible from being illegally trafficked into Mexico " U.S. law enforcement seized 1,720 firearms in the first six months of fiscal year 2022 .

But it accounts for less than 1% of all firearms being smuggled across the border.