Thread: Major Smuggling Organization Cracked in S. Arizona

Major Smuggling Organization Cracked in S. Arizona

Updated: Thursday, 19 May 2011, 1:34 PM MST
Published : Thursday, 19 May 2011, 12:13 PM MST
By BOB CHRISTIE Associated Press

PHOENIX - A major marijuana and immigrant smuggling operation that used a route through a southern Arizona Indian reservation has been effectively dismantled, authorities said Thursday.

The group with ties to a Mexican drug cartel used a variety of methods to bring tons of marijuana into the U.S. through the Tohono O'Odham Indian Nation southwest of Tucson since 2008, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said. The trafficking organization connected to the Sinaloa drug cartel also brought illegal immigrants in the country, and returned cash and weapons to Mexico. pronounced

21 of 46 suspected members of the organization led by a Mexican resident have been arrested and face indictments on a variety of smuggling, conspiracy, money laundering and other state charges, Horne said. The leader, identified as Jesus Valencia Rodriguez, is believed to be in Mexico and remains at large.

Since 2008, more than 150 drug seizures involving about 28,000 pounds of marijuana have been linked to the group. Officials also seized 41 assault weapons that were bound for Valencia in Mexico.

Most disturbing, Horne said, was that the smugglers used sophisticated surveillance from hilltop locations to spot and avoid U.S. Border Patrol agents. The spotters used night vision equipment and radios.

"It's pretty disconcerting when they have spotters in high spots so that they can tell when the Border Patrol is coming or when they're not there in order to be able to get the smugglers though without being detected," Horne said. "It illustrated the fact that we have to become more sophisticated in dealing with them."

State, federal and tribal authorities worked together to break up the organization.

The major entry point was a crossing that links the tribe's reservations in Mexico and the U.S. Members of the tribe freely cross the border there. The smugglers took advantage of the San Miguel Gate by recruiting members of the Tohono O'Odham Nation to help bring drugs and illegal immigrants into the U.S., Horne said. Some of those indicted are members of the Tohono O'Odham tribe.

"The tribal members have to be able to go back and forth because their reservation is on both sides of the border," Horne said. "So we have to be able to detect when they're not legitimate members of the tribe engaged in their daily business but (actually) drug smugglers or other illegals."

The reservation covers more than 4,400 square miles and has become a regular conduit for drugs and migrants moving from the border north to Phoenix and beyond in recent years. Tohono O'Odham Chairman Ned Norris Jr. said the tribe wants the drug smuggling to stop to protect the U.S. and the reservation.

The marijuana was brought into the U.S. by backpackers, or concealed in secret compartments or inside the tires of special ramp trucks used to cross border barriers.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/cr ... s_33080281

It's pretty disconcerting when they have spotters in high spots so that they can tell when the Border Patrol is coming or when they're not there in order to be able to get the smugglers though without being detected," Horne said.

Snipers will take care of the spotters. BP needs to use the military and their resources and then they would have little or no problem.

Mexican army arrests suspected drug boss and police ally

CUERNAVACA, Mexico | Thu May 19, 2011 8:19pm EDT

CUERNAVACA, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican soldiers arrested a suspected drug boss and a police chief accused of protecting him on Thursday, blaming them for much of the violence terrorizing tourist towns near Mexico City.

In an early morning swoop, soldiers in black ski masks captured Victor Valdez, known as "El Gordo Varilla" (The Big Stick), in Cuernavaca, a popular getaway south of Mexico City where drug violence is escalating.

Valdez is believed to be the second-in-command of the Cartel de Pacifico Sur (South Pacific Cartel) run by drug lord Hector Beltran Leyva, which is fighting rivals for control of Cuernavaca and the strategic Pacific resort city of Acapulco.

In a brief army presentation to reporters, Valdez said local police chief Juan Bosco helped the gang evade capture. Bosco was later arrested by soldiers in Cuernavaca, the army said.

"The guy protecting us was Commander Bosco, he used to alert us to army and federal police crackdowns," Valdez told reporters, wearing a dark polo shirt and flanked by soldiers in body armor.

Bosco received about 15,000 pesos ($1,290) a month for tipping off the cartel, Valdez said.

The allegations about the police chief's role underscore the endemic corruption in Mexico's badly-paid municipal police forces that President Felipe Calderon has vowed to modernize, although security experts say he has yet to make good on those promises.

Cuernavaca, once better known for its swimming pools and colonial-era palace, has become an unlikely symbol of Mexico's drug war chaos since a Mexican poet's son was killed in the resort city in late March, fueling protests about the relentless drug killings across Mexico.

Thousands of people led by poet Javier Sicilia marched on Mexico City this month to condemn the violence that has killed almost 40,000 people since Calderon launched his army-backed assault on drug cartels after he took office in December 2006.

In another development, authorities in the U.S. border state of Arizona said police arrested 25 suspected members of a Mexican drug cartel, significantly hampering the group's ability to smuggle drugs and illegal immigrants from Mexico.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said the suspects -- believed to be members of the Jesus Valencia-Rodgriguez cell of the powerful Sinaloa cartel -- smuggled drugs and illegal immigrants through the Tohono O'odham Indian reservation on the Arizona-Mexico border.

Most of the suspects are U.S. citizens and the rest Mexican, said Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, who announced the arrests at a news conference in Tucson.

They were arrested in Phoenix, Tucson and on the Tohono O'odham reservation and face charges that include smuggling, money laundering and participation in a criminal syndicate.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/ ... YH20110520

DEA Press Release

Agency Heads Announce Major Criminal Action Against Cartel

Over 27,000 pounds of Marijuana and multiple weapons linked to drug smuggling organization

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-238560.html