Attorney General Eric Holder announced an internal investigation Wednesday of a controversial US operation that allowed hundreds of weapons to enter Mexico, which is being roiled by deadly drug-related crime.

Holder said his agency's inspector general would examine reports that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms allowed more than 1,000 firearms to enter Mexico in theory to be used to help fight drug cartels.

"I've asked our (Justice Department) Inspector General's office to look into that matter," Holder told a news conference.

"The aim of ATF is to stop the flow of guns; they're doing a good job, (but) questions have been raised by ATF agents about how some of these investigations have been conducted.

US media last week threw a spotlight on a report by the non-governmental group Public Integrity, which said that the ATF-approved "Fast and Furious" operation allowed weapons to be purposely sent to Mexico.

An agent with the office made the situation public and claimed, according to Public Integrity, that several of his colleagues opposed the operation which took place from 2009 to 2010.

Mexico's government has asked the United States for an explanation.

Mexico charges that 90 percent of the weapons used in its staggeringly bloody drug wars enter the country from the neighboring United States.

More than 34,600 people have been killed in rising drug-related violence in Mexico since December 2006, when its President Felipe Calderon deployed soldiers and federal police to take on organized crime.

"You can purchase arms legally, they can be transferred legally. That means those investigations are more difficult more complex in some ways," Holder said.

Separately, a US Government Accountability Office report found that US authorities in the past two years had seized $67 million at the US Mexican border, while the illegal flow of cash is believed to range from $18-39 billion a year.

"The agency's ability to stem the flow of bulk cash is limited because of the inherent difficulty in identifying travelers who attempt to smuggle cash," said Rich Stana, Director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues at the Government Accountability Office.

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