Meth cash, nabbed by cops
Roadblock on N36 nets drug smugglers

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

UPPER FRUITLAND, N.M. — Two Mexican nationals are awaiting deportation after they were nabbed at a sobriety checkpoint by Navajo Nation Selective Traffic Enforcement Program officers who found them in possession of methamphetamine.

Officer Clarence Bahe Jr., acting sergeant and supervisor for STEP, said the team was conducting a DUI check at milepost 15.3 on Navajo Route 36 from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Saturday, when, nine minutes after they began, a blue Chevrolet Mailbu bearing New Mexico plates approached the checkpoint.

Bahe spoke with the driver, Julio R. Urias, 25, and asked to see his license, but Urias said he didn't have one. He and a passenger, Jose Verdugo Martin Salazar, 21, showed the officer Mexico identification cards. Both men are from Dom. Conocido Panaltita Sindhiguera, Mexico.

Bahe said he detected a strong odor of urine an indicator of methamphetamine coming from inside the vehicle and instructed Urias to pull to the side of the road.

Officer Rowland Dash asked the two to exit the vehicle and was in the process of issuing a citation when he noticed that Urias began acting "unusual."

Officers said he kept sticking his hands in his pockets, then removing them and folding his arms across his chest. At the same time, he kept looking around toward his vehicle and his friend continuously, and could not stand still.

He appeared to be very nervous, they said. His hands were shaking; he was sweating profusely, and kicking the dirt.

Officers said they noted numerous indicators of drug smuggling after which Officers Dash and Israel Tsosie talked to Urias and Salazar and were given permission to search the vehicle.

Bahe said neither the driver nor the passenger knew each other's names, but told the officers they were friends. Urias also told officers that the vehicle he was driving didn't belong to him, and that he didn't know who it belonged to. Bahe said the vehicle is registered to Melody Griffith of Farmington.

A K-9 unit was employed to conduct a search and at 1:41 p.m., the K-9 alerted on the vehicle, where Dash found a wrapped, clear sandwich bag between the driver and passenger seats. The bag contained a white substance believed to be methamphetamine. A clear glass pipe with white burned residue was found wrapped in tissue and tucked underneath the back seat of the vehicle.

Urias and Salazar were taken into custody and charged with possession of a controlled substance, Schedule II methamphetamine.

During a search incidental to arrest, Officers Bahe and Tsosie also found a large amount of U.S. currency in the pockets of the two suspects. Urias and Salazar were taken to San Juan County Jail where they were booked into custody to await transport to El Paso, Texas, from which point they were to be deported to Mexico.

The Selective Traffic Enforcement Program of the Navajo Nation currently is working with Region II Narcotics Task Force, Navajo Nation K-9, Navajo Nation Gang Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies.

New Mexico is a major corridor for illegal drugs smuggled into the United States, according to New Mexico High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas information.

A Drug Abuse Warning Network Report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration showed that in 2003, the Albuquerque metropolitan area had more deaths per person due to drug misuse than New York, Detroit, Denver, San Diego, Washington and 25 other metro areas.

New Mexico seizures of methamphetamine in Calendar Year 2004 were up 322 percent from 2003.
Friday
July 27, 2007
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Meth cash, nabbed by cops; Roadblock on N36 nets drug smugglers

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