MCALLEN, TX (NewsNation) — While officials have placed an emphasis on what is heading into the United States, law enforcement agencies are ramping up their security on what is heading out across the southern border.

Officials said contraband is flowing both ways, and as law enforcement works to intercept it, they sometimes find large caches of firearms consisting of handguns and other weapons.

Earlier this month, Jessica Alvarado, of Texas, was arrested after attempting to cross the border from Texas into Mexico with dozens of firearms, including 33 AK-47s, federal authorities said.

Alvarado was arrested on charges of unlawful transport or attempted transport from the United States, according to federal records.

Law enforcement said the weapons were likely going to end up in the hands of the cartels.

In January, CBP officers stopped a more brazen attempt where a man attempted to conceal an assault rifle under his jacket and get into Mexico.

The reality is, this is the nature of the business at the border — drugs go one way, and guns go the other.

“The street gangs are able to acquire them, and you know, sell them or trade them to some of the cartels, right? That’s a major. That’s a major sort of barter or traffic system, there is drugs, drugs in the U.S., guns and money back into Mexico,” said Mike Ballard, director of intelligence at Global Guardian.

Gun laws are strict in Mexico — the average citizen cannot carry a firearm, and it must be kept inside the home — but that’s not stopping the cartels from constantly getting their hands on these kinds of weapons.