Thread: Drugs, illegals discovered in semi-trailer in Lukeville

Published: 07.30.2007

Drugs, illegal entrants discovered in semi-trailer in Lukeville
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Border Patrol agents seized more than one ton of marijuana near Lukeville and apprehended an aggravated felon south of Tucson Sunday.

The drug seizure occurred Sunday evening at a gas station one-half mile north of the border in Lukeville, said Richard DeWitt, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. A Border Patrol dog alerted agents to drugs in a semi-trailer parked at the gas station.

Agents discovered five illegal entrants inside the trailer and 2,786 pounds of marijuana in the front wall of the trailer, DeWitt said. The driver, the drugs and the illegal entrants were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The 2,786 pounds has an estimated value of $2.78 million, according to figures from the National Drug Intelligence Center.

The aggravated felon, a 32-year-old man from Guanajuato, Mexico, was arrested trying to cross into the country illegally in Arizona over the weekend, DeWitt said. A records check on Sunday revealed that he had been convicted of burglary, smuggling, repeated illegal reentry and repeated probation violations over a 13-year period, DeWitt said.

He was first sentenced to 10 years in prison in Brownsville, Texas for burglary in 1994. He was granted probation and turned up again in 1996 in New Orleans after being arrested by the Border Patrol for smuggling people into the country, DeWitt said. As a result, he was deported to Mexico in January 1997.

Agents apprehended him again a month later and he was convicted later that year for illegal reentry after deportation and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in federal prison. He was granted probation again and arrested in 1998 and again in 2001 for probation violation. After the second arrest, he was put in federal prison to finish serving his sentence, DeWitt said. He was deported in April 2003 after serving his time.

This time, he will be charged with reentry of an aggravated felon, DeWitt said.

Border Patrol officials estimate that about 10 percent of the people they catch have criminal records.

From Oct. 1 through June 15, 31,152 - or 11 percent - of the 288,018 apprehensions made in the Tucson Sector were illegal entrants with criminal records, said DeWitt, citing the latest figures available.

During the same time in 2006, 28,592 - or 9 percent - of the 313,645 apprehended had criminal records, he said.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/194015

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