Thread: Armed bandits shoot suspected drug runner near Tubac

Published: 07.23.2007

Armed bandits shoot suspected drug runner near Tubac
By Brady McCombs
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
A suspected drug runner was shot and wounded by armed bandits early Monday in the Tumacacori Mountains west of Tubac.

The shooting occurred at about midnight when two men in dark clothing opened fire on a group of 11 drug smugglers who had crossed the border near Sasabe and had been walking for three days, the wounded man told deputies according to Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada.

Vulcano Romero Moreno, 24, of Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, was shot in the back and left arm and taken to Carondelet Holy Cross Hospital in Nogales and is in stable condition, he said. The other members of the group scattered when the men started shooting. Border Patrol sent a team in search of the shooters or other wounded but didn’t find anything.

At about 2:30 a.m., Border Patrol agents found Moreno walking south on Interstate 19 near kilometer post 23 and called Santa Cruz County emergency medical services. The marijuana smugglers were heading for Amado where they were scheduled to be picked up, Estrada said.

The shooting occurred in an area where officials have reported increased violence in the past two years between drug runners and armed ripoff teams trying to steal their loads.

Four murders and nine attempted homicides have occurred on the smuggling trails in the area in the past two years in the greater Tubac area from Tumacacori to Amado, including a surge of activity in the area west of Tubac in the first months of 2007.

Monday’s shooting was the first in the area since late February. Activity had tapered off after the Border Patrol and Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office began devoting more time and resources to patrolling the area in late February.

“It appears like it might be another drug ripoff,â€

its called a war.. they are waring cartels and our USA based gangs trying to steal the drugs.....

and thats what we are importing!

JUST HARD WORKING MEXICANS TRYING TO SCRATCH OUT A LIVING LOL. OR IN THIS CASE SHOOT OUT A LIVING. THIS IS OUR FUTURE FOLKS. A COUNTRY RUN BY DRUG CARTELS JUST LIKE MEXICO. THERE WILL BE NO NAU. IT WILL BE THE NORTH AMERICAN DRUG CARTEL. NADC

coming to a town near you?