Thread: Armed smugglers fighting it out

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DRUG VIOLENCE THEATENS TUBAC
Armed smugglers fighting it out
Traffickers using corridor to avert law enforcement

By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.04.2007

TUBAC — An unwelcome set of neighbors is encroaching on this Southern Arizona community known more for its artisans and golf course than its proximity to the border — armed drug smugglers and violent bandits.

The presence of more than 500 Border Patrol agents and dozens of National Guard observation posts has congested the Nogales corridor, pinching off routes and forcing drug smugglers into the rugged mountains east and west of Interstate 19 in the greater Tubac area from Tumacacori to Amado.

A November decision to station a semi-permanent checkpoint north of Tubac at kilometer 42 on Interstate 19 has created smuggling routes flanking the area as drug runners transport their loads north of the inspection spot.

The drug runners, or burreros, or aren't alone on the trails, either. Armed ripoff teams, or bajadores, have become increasingly brazen in the past two years in their attempts to steal loads of drugs and people from smugglers.

"They rip off each other; they shoot at each other; the stakes are higher now," said Lt. Raul Rodriguez, commander of criminal investigations for the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office. "With more enforcement, surveillance, you are going to create a lot more activity."

Four murders and nine attempted homicides have occurred on the smuggling trails in the area in the past two years, including a recent surge of activity in the Aliso Springs area west of Tubac, Rodriguez said.

Since August, Santa Cruz County sheriff's investigators and Border Patrol agents have responded more than 20 times to smuggling and banditry activity near Aliso Springs, including a shootout between smugglers and bandits on Jan. 15 and an exchange of gunfire between a Border Patrol agent and a smuggler last week.

On Feb. 27, near the Rock Corral Canyon south of the Aliso Springs area, a member of a Border Patrol special-response team shot and killed a suspected drug smuggler who had shot at him.

On Jan. 15, in the Tumacacori Mountains west of Aliso Springs, a trio of bandits opened fire on nine Mexican drug runners in the mountains, killing two and wounding two others. Four survivors walked into the community for help.

Drug smuggling has long been a way of life along the I-19 corridor from Nogales to Tucson, but the concentration and accompanying violence in the fast-growing Tubac area is a new development, residents and officials agree.

"This isn't new to Southern Arizona," said Brett Titcomb, 23, of Aliso Springs. "But when you get out of your car and hear automatic weapons for 10 minutes, it's different."

Blood-soaked visitors

At about 10 a.m. on Jan. 15, Patricia Brasher came outside to see what her Australian shepherd, Tess, was barking about. She found two men at her gate and two others soaked in blood standing behind them.

They spoke no English; she spoke no Spanish. From hand gestures, she figured out they had been shot and were in need of help. She called 911 and gave them bananas, water and tortillas.

"I didn't see any guns or backpacks or anything that would lead me to believe it would be a threat," she said.

The men were surviving members of a drug-running crew that had been ambushed by bandits in the mountains, Santa Cruz sheriff's officials said. The wounded were taken to Tucson hospitals and survived. Sheriff's deputies found two others dead at the scene of the shootout later that day.

She called it a surreal experience that left her more alert, but said she understands that illegal traffic is part of life near the border.

"I just kind of take it with the territory," Brasher said. "No matter where you live, you are going to have to put up with something you don't like."

Her encounter is the closest any resident has come to the seedy world of drug smuggling and banditry that occurs in the mountains. No community members have been hurt, and no homes have been damaged.

The violence around the area has caught the attention of homeowners, but nobody is moving or looking to sell. They're watching out for each other's houses and reporting any signs of suspicious activity to law enforcement officials.

"I don't think it's cause for us to start driving around in armored vehicles and start arming ourselves and ridiculous things like that," said Emilio Falco, the president of the Aliso Springs homeowners association who has lived there with his wife, Jean Titilah, since 2000.

But even though the increased violent activity hasn't changed the daily lives of residents, it's tough to forget about, they say.

From the pool area in the back of the Titcombs' ranch-style house, they have unobstructed, picturesque views of Sardina Peak, and solitude that many city dwellers would relish. These hills used to be the personal playground for Titcomb and his two brothers, but not anymore. The gunfire Titcomb heard Jan. 15 wasn't the first and won't be the last, he said.

"Logically, you don't think it's going to come down here, but it's in the back of your mind," said Titcomb, who returned to live with his parents in August after five years away at college. "I'm not relying on anybody else for my safety."

Texas area more violent

The Arizona-Sonoran section of the border has been the busiest for drug- and human- smuggling for nearly a decade, but it hasn't been the most violent.

The bloodshed caused by competing drug cartels in South Texas has been avoided in Sonora because family-based drug- trafficking groups in Sinaloa that control the routes between Douglas and Yuma have operated under a de facto confederation, said Tony Coulson, Drug Enforcement Administration assistant special agent in charge of the Tucson District Office.

"They are smart enough to realize they don't want to draw attention to themselves," Coulson said. "So, there is relative peace in Sonora."

But the increasingly violent actions of ripoff teams could interrupt that tranquility, Coulson and Santa Cruz sheriff's investigator Rodriguez said. So far, drug smugglers from Mexico haven't retaliated against the ripoff crews based in Arizona, but officials are bracing themselves. If the ripoff teams steal enough loads to make a dent in profits, the cartels will be motivated to respond, Coulson said.

Although the drug-related murder of Agua Prieta Police Chief Ramon Tacho Verdugo on Feb. 26 and nine murders believed to be related to drug trafficking since December in the Altar area of Mexico have U.S. officials concerned, for now, the relative tranquility remains, Coulson said.

"If it was cartel versus cartel, you would see the violence you see in Juarez," Rodriguez said. "You are seeing sporadic force- on-force violence."

The ripoffs are the work of criminals based in cities such as Tucson and Phoenix who were on the fringe of drug trafficking who have banded together. They steal the drugs and sell them without having to buy them or worry about evading the gantlet of enforcement at the border while transporting them north, he said.

That gantlet includes more obstacles than ever with increased number of agents, soldiers, fences, vehicle barriers, sensors, cameras and helicopters along the border.

"They are struggling to get their own drugs across, so they target other people's routes to steal drugs," said Gustavo Soto, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.

Some of the banditry could be coming from drug smugglers who have splintered off from organizations and are trying to take control of the trails, Rod-riguez said.

"Every inch of that border and every route is bought and sold by organizations," he said. "Anytime they have a fluctuation of how they do their business, somebody else profits by using the route."

Flanking the checkpoint

Worries from Tubac area residents about the semi-permanent checkpoint north of Tubac have escalated in light of the increased activity.

"There's clearly a flanking motion going on," said Gary Brasher, a real estate developer and president of Brasher Real Estate Inc. "I don't expect drug dealers to just get in their trucks and drive through it. I mean, they are going to try find a way around."

From 2002 to November 2006, the Border Patrol was forced to move the Interstate 19 checkpoint every seven or 14 days between kilometer 42 and kilometer 25, south of Tubac, in accordance with a congressionally mandated rule championed by former Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz.

With that directive off the books, the checkpoint is open north of Tubac around the clock, weather permitting.

The Border Patrol knew smugglers would try to circumvent the checkpoint, pushing smuggling activity into the surrounding area, but it's part of the plan. That gives them the tactical advantage by allowing them to focus sensors and agents in those areas, Soto said.

The Border Patrol worked with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office in planning the checkpoint location, Rodriguez said.

"We knew we were going to have more activity," said Rod-riguez. "We didn't know we were going to have homicides."

Border Patrol officials have met numerous times with community members who are concerned about the effects on commerce, property and their safety.

Gary Brasher, who was at the meeting, credited officials for reaching out to the community and the efforts of local officers to keep residents safe. But residents feel an overwhelming sense that they are simply in the wrong spot.

"The government has said, essentially, the permanent checkpoint at the border doesn't work so now we're going to establish another one north of the border and those of you who are south of that, well, we'll do the best we can," he said.

Santa Cruz County sheriff's deputies and Border Patrol agents have increased patrols in the area, especially in Aliso Springs, and opened talks with residents about forming a neighborhood watch group. The Border Patrol has deployed special response teams, and other federal agencies are lending resources.

But the hot spot doesn't figure to cool off anytime soon.

"Anytime you live 20 miles from the border, I don't care if it's California, Texas or Arizona, you are going to see some kind of impact," Gary Brasher said. "We saw it before the checkpoint. I think the checkpoint being in one fixed location certainly increases that."

●Contact Brady McCombs at 573-4213 or bmccombs@azstarnet.com.

After all of this our president spends his time putting border patrol agents in jail instead of closing off the invasion of ous southern border!!

Hopefully, they'll thin out their own herds.

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