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The sheriff released a portion of "law enforcement sensitive" information after a news media contacted the office "in an effort to inform the public about the dangers associated with the drug cartels operating in Pinal County."
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Earlier this year, a regional SWAT team led by deputies with the Pinal County (Ariz.) Sheriff's Office took POLICE Magazine into the Vekol Valley in the Arizona desert to show one way smugglers bring narcotics across the U.S.-Mexico border. Smugglers often use illegal immigrants as drug mules to carry 25-pound marijuana bundles using makeshift "backpacks" of rope and cut strips of Mexican blankets to lessen discomfort. Listen to our podcast, "Tracking Smugglers in Southern Arizona," with Pinal County Sheriff's Sgt. Matt Thomas. Photos by Paul Clinton.
Read More →The woman, a U.S. citizen, has been arrested for attempting to smuggle the 39-year-old Mexican national across the border.
Read More →A Nogales (Ariz.) Police officer initiated the foot pursuit that eventually led to the discovery of one of two smuggling tunnels, an arrest and seizure of more than 800 pounds of marijuana worth more than $400,000.
Read More →Two forensics experts are questioning the shooting of Pinal County (Ariz.) Sheriff's deputy Louie Puroll, saying the shooting could not have occurred as the deputy described it.
Read More →The packages, headed for Houston, Sugar Land, Missouri City and elsewhere, came from as close as the Rio Grande Valley and as far away as Pakistan and Iraq.
Read More →The traffickers have been caught hauling marijuana along the Texas border in fake versions of a Walmart truck or FedEx van. They've employed sham school buses, dummy dump trucks and bogus ambulances.
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Street gangs have become very adept at creating convincing false documents that can pass an officer's cursory inspection. Advanced computers, scanners, and color printers make detection more challenging, and traffickers often use fake birth certificates and other forgeries to obtain authentic state-issued documents. Biometric methods such as fingerprinting, retinal scans and DNA are a much more reliable way to identify suspicious people. Photos courtesy of Richard Valdemar.
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An alliance has formed between jihadists, drug cartels and American street gangs along the southern border, according to the experts. This threat represents the most credible target of attack to the U.S.
Read More →The Pinal County Sheriff's Office is asking now because "dangerous incidents have increased through the past few years and are now escalating to a point where deputies are involved in high-speed vehicle pursuits, shootouts between deputies and smugglers, incidents of ambush, as well as the deputy who was injured in a shooting."
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