Los Angeles, CA | A Latino gang member who tried to smuggle drugs and an M-16 into prison after he was arrested this week has died of his injuries reports the Los Angeles Chronicle.

The man that is believed to be part of the notorious El Salvador-based MS-13 crime organization, also known as Mara Salvatrucha, has died from internal bleeding after he told the medical staff at the California State Prison of Los Angeles County (LAC) he had tried to smuggle the barrel of an M-16 inside his rectum.

Sixteen other suspects have been apprehended within the prison walls after the convicted criminal gave the names of other convicts who had sneaked in different gun parts inside the vicinity of the compound and several other gun parts have since been seized by prison officials.

“He fell on his knees and started crying, saying he would snitch on anyone who was part of the smuggling operation if we could save his life,” a prison guard told reporters.

Rafael Raza Garcia, 23, was arrested this week on drug charges and admitted to officials it was a common ploy to get purposefully arrested to smuggle drugs and weapons into the prison.

“Drugs and weapons smuggled inside maximum security facilities fetch high prices and can help gang members climb the ladders within a criminal organization” explains Antonio Fox, California State prison spokesman.

Rafael Raza Garcia, who had crossed the Mexican border illegally in 1998, was granted temporary legal status and a work permit under the Obama administration in 2014 as were nearly 5 million other illegal immigrants at the time.