Drug smuggling ring broken up

PHOENIX -- A drug trafficking ring that used truck-mounted ramps to get smuggling vehicles over border fences, sophisticated counter-surveillance to avoid detection and hidden compartments in vehicles to bring at least 40,000 pounds of marijuana into the southern Arizona has been broken up, authorities said Tuesday. The three-year investigation by federal, state and local law enforcement into the Mexican ring led to 26 suspects indicted on federal charges and 13 on state charges, said Dennis Burke, the U.S. Attorney for Arizona. Among those arrested was an employee of the prosecutor's office in Cochise County, Ariz., who allegedly took money to feed confidential information to the ring. The smuggling organization was likely connected to the Sinaloa Drug Cartel, Burke said. The investigation was dubbed "Operation Vaqueros" because of the cowboy attire worn the smugglers. Such clothing is typical of the Sinaloa cartel's members. "They figured out several ways to breach the border fence," Burke said. "They were also smuggling marijuana via backpackers, so if they needed to hop (the fence) in certain places they would. They were using stolen vehicles, they were using ... ramping trucks. Their only limitation was their own creativity." Twelve people identified as key players in the ring were indicted on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana, a charge which carries a potential life sentence. Six of those suspects are still at large and believed to be in Mexico. The others indicted were lesser figures, typically drivers. Federal agents obtained warrants to conduct seven wiretaps, which led to the arrest of the Cochise County Attorney's Office employee. County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer said he was contacted by the DEA about 18 months ago telling him they had a wiretap showing a secretary in his office passing information to drug smugglers in the northern Mexican state of Sonora. The employee was a longtime resident of Naco, Ariz., who had been with the county for only a short time. He said the secretary was passing information about drug smuggling cases. She was allowed to keep working until her arrest in January as the investigation progressed. Keeping employees from being corrupted by smugglers is a major worry, Rheinheimer said. "It's a concern within the police departments, it's a concern among the municipalities, at the county level, at the state and at the federal, because the financial stakes are so high in both the drug smuggling trade and the people smuggling trade that the temptations can be overwhelming," Rheinheimer said. "We know that occasionally someone will succumb to the temptation." Most of the pot was brought into Cochise County, which is a hub for drug and human smuggling. The slaying of a local rancher in March, possibly by a drug smuggler or an illegal immigrant, brought nationwide attention to the area and helped spur the passage of a tough new Arizona law cracking down on illegal immigration. The investigation began in 2007 after U.S. Border Patrol agents became aware of the sophisticated smuggling efforts employed by the ring in southeastern Arizona's Cochise County, which has a long border with Mexico. Eventually, the investigation also involved officers from the DEA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, FBI, Arizona Department of Public Safety, Cochise County Sheriff and local police in Bisbee, Douglas, and Sierra Vista. Such coordinated efforts are critical because it allows more officers to be brought to bear on large, sophisticated smuggling rings, Burke said. "It took us time to break down all their tactics and strategies, their techniques," Burke said. "And it's going to have a ripple effect on other drug trafficking organizations, because now they know we've figured out many of their methods."