Marijuana-smuggling ring uncovered.
Wed, 04/28/2010 - 00:21


By Derek Jordan

SIERRA VISTA — Authorities announced Tuesday that a drug smuggling ring that brought at least 40,000 pounds of marijuana into the state through Cochise County during the past three years using truck-mounted ramps and hidden compartments in vehicles has been broken up.

Numerous local, state and federal agencies were involved in the three-year operation, which so far has resulted in 39 indictments and 34 arrests, said Wyn Hornbuckle, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona.

One of those arrested, Angelica Borquez, 28, allegedly took money to provide information to the smuggling ring while she worked as a secretary for the Cochise County Attorney’s Office.

Borquez was arrested and booked into the county jail Jan. 26 after more than a year of surveillance, including wiretaps, by the DEA, said Cochise County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer.

Investigators informed Rheinheimer’s office of their investigation and asked them to do all they could to not let on that Borquez was under suspicion.

“We had to, on one hand, make sure that she didn’t have access to any information that she could pass on that would do any serious damage to a case or put someone in jeopardy, but at the same time, try to do it in such a way that she didn’t think she was being investigated,â€