Elaborate Cross-Border Drug Ring Busted

PHOENIX - Law enforcement officials said Monday that they had broken up a ring that smuggled thousands of pounds of marijuana a year for three years from Mexico into Pinal County.

Attorney General Terry Goddard, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Elizabeth W. Kempshall announced 21 indictments in the case at a joint press conference. They said the group was led by Arizona City man Robert Hernandez, 38, who sent the drug across the nation from Pinal County.

Investigators first learned of the group when a Pinal County deputy made a traffic stop last December and found a driver was ferrying more than $228,000 in cash.

The DEA and the sheriff's narcotics task force then discovered an elaborate drug smuggling organization that brought marijuana through the Tohono O'Odham Nation and into Pinal County, officials said.

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Authorities made numerous arrests in recent days as they moved to break up the operation, and marijuana, cash and weapons were seized. The suspects face various charges, including possession and transportation of marijuana for sale, money laundering, conspiracy and illegally conducting an enterprise, Goddard said.

The smuggling ring allegedly used walkers carrying backpacks filled with 50- to 100-pounds of marijuana to transport the drug across the reservation. They were then met by drivers, who took it to stash houses in Pinal County.

Some ring leaders were charged with using minors to commit drug offenses. They allegedly recruited high school students to meet the walkers and drive the marijuana to the stash houses.

Several also face charges that they conspired to rip off and possibly kill other drug smugglers by impersonating law enforcement officers.