AZMEX UPDATE 8 DEC 2012
Border Patrol agents seize $81,000 in U.S. currency
December 07, 2012 9:16 PM
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By JAMES GILBERT - @YSJAMESGILBERT
Border Patrol agents from the Yuma Sector's Blythe Station seized
more than $81,000 in U.S. currency Wednesday, according to a news
release from the sector's public affairs office.
The news release indicated that while agents were performing
transportation checks on a bus in Blythe, they noticed the smell of
marijuana emanating from luggage.
A canine alerted to a black leather bag on one of the seats. After
receiving consent, agents searched the bag and found two vacuum-
sealed plastic bags containing $81,750 in U.S. currency.
Agents also found nearly two and a half pounds of methamphetamine,
worth an estimated $38,000, in an unclaimed bag.
The cash, methamphetamine and owner of the luggage were turned over
to the Riverside County Sheriff's Office.
When Border Patrol agents discover large amounts of currency, they
investigate further to determine whether the currency was connected
to any type of illicit activity. During fiscal year 2011, Yuma Sector
agents seized more than $800,000 determined as profits generated from
illegal activity.
Customs and Border Protection officials welcome assistance from the
community. Citizens can report suspicious activity to the Border
Patrol and remain anonymous by calling 1-866-999-8727, toll free.
Border Patrol agents from the Yuma Sector's Blythe Station seized
more than $81,000 in U.S. currency an estimated $38,000 in
methamphetamine while were performing transportation checks on a bus
in Blythe Wednesday.
Read more: http://www.yumasun.com/articles/agents-83765-border-
currency.html#ixzz2ETcSlokl
Note: the two following from TEXMEX, but a inside view of the problems.
U.S. marshal arrested for blowing agent's cover
Posted: Tuesday, December 4, 2012 4:28 pm | Updated: 11:02 pm, Tue
Dec 4, 2012.
Ildefonso Ortiz | Twitter: @IldefonsoOrtiz The Monitor
Posted on December 4, 2012
http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/
article_e5714968-3e61-11e2-95d6-0019bb30f31a.html
McALLEN — A text message to his father may have landed a deputy U.S.
marshal on the wrong side of the law.
Lucio Osbaldo Moya is accused of blowing an Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agent's cover in order to protect his father, who
allegedly was involved in a drug smuggling scheme.
Federal agents arrested Moya on Tuesday morning and took him before
U.S Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos, who set his bond at $75,000 and
remanded him to the custody of his fellow U.S. Marshals.
The case against Moya stems from a 2011 undercover drug operation in
which an agent with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations went
undercover as a tractor-trailer driver named Guadalupe Zavala.
The text message Moya sent his father revealed the true identity of
the ICE agent, who had infiltrated a drug smuggling group that moved
marijuana loads from Starr County to Houston.
In June 2011, the man known as Zavala moved a 1,500 pound shipment of
marijuana to Houston in exchange for $50,000, court records show.
After the drugs were picked up, agents seized the drugs.
Soon after, other members of the group — including Moya's father,
Juan Norberto — asked for Zavala in order to have him move another
shipment. The members of the group asked for a copy of Zavala's
license, which was given to Moya at some point.
On Oct. 5, 2011, Moya showed up to the U.S. Marshals Office with a
copy of Zavala's license, claiming that a source had given it to him
as a lead on a drug smuggler who was being helped by a corrupt U.S.
Border Patrol agent. Moya had a computer analyst get a color
photograph of the license, but when he showed it to his supervisor
and agents with the Office of the Inspector General, he was told that
Zavala was in fact an undercover agent and to not tell anyone.
Court records show that after the meeting, Moya sent a text to his
father asking "Dad where did you get this paper … Dad this guy is an
agent; you can't tell anyone what is going on and you will need to
talk to someone here."
In an effort to protect the safety of the agent posing as Zavala,
that same night agents rounded up the suspects in the case, including
Moya's father, charging them all with drug possession
The following day, Moya spoke with a fellow U.S. marshal and told him
that he had accidentally given up Zavala's identity to his father.
The friend told him to stop the conversation and to notify his
supervisor immediately.
That same day, Moya spoke with agents with the Office of the
Inspector General and with his supervisor about the case.
The information about the messages came from an interview with Moya
because he had erased the text messages from his phone, court records
show.
A search of Moya's computer shows that he had searched Yahoo and
Facebook for "Guadalupe Zavala."
Sheriff's deputy feared for life in spillover shooting
Jose Luis Alvarez talks to his lawyers Friday Dec. 7, 2012, at the
Hidalgo County Courthouse in Edinburg. photo by Gabe Hernandez/
gabrielh@themonitor.com
Juan Jose Ramos Garcia gives his testimony Friday Dec. 7, 2012, at
the Hidalgo County Courthouse in Edinburg. photo by Gabe Hernandez/
gabrielh@themonitor.com
Posted: Friday, December 7, 2012 8:15 pm | Updated: 10:00 pm, Fri Dec
7, 2012.
Sheriff's deputy feared for life in spillover shooting
Jacqueline Armendariz and Ildefonso Ortiz
http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/article_16526940-40dd-11e2-
ad80-001a4bcf6878.html
EDINBURG — After a Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office deputy testified
he feared for his life, a photo of a bloodied hand and two bullet
holes in the side of a truck were among the evidence presented in
court Friday.
Sheriff Lupe Treviño called the shooting at the center of the trial
the first genuine case of spillover from Mexico's drug war in Hidalgo
County. Last year, a traffic stop erupted into violence that left one
suspected kidnapper dead and HCSO Deputy Hugo Rodriguez injured on
Oct. 30.
Jose Luis Alvarez, the driver of the pickup truck involved in the
shooting, is charged with two counts of attempted capital murder of a
peace officer and three counts of kidnapping for his role in the case.
The deadly traffic stop happened after law enforcement received a
report that local drug dealers had been kidnapped, authorities said.
Alvarez and Daniel Perez, the shooter who wounded the deputy, are
Partido Revolucionario Mexicano gang members who were working to
recover the stolen drug load for the Gulf Cartel at the time. The
stolen drugs were reportedly tracked to the kidnapped men.
Perez was killed in the firefight.
In court Friday, Deputy Manuel Morales, a 10-year veteran of the
Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office recalled the 10 seconds that for him
seemed like an eternity.
Upon hearing gunshots, Morales stepped back as he drew his weapon and
fired back at Perez who seconds earlier had shot at Morales' partner,
Rodriguez.
"I felt that I had no option but to fight," Morales testified.
Defense attorney Mauro Barreiro asked Morales if he shot at Alvarez
four times, though the attorney previously said his client was shot
seven times. The deputy answered that he did not shoot Alvarez.
Another witness to the shooting, 19-year-old Juan Jesus Ramos, told
the jury he was one of the men taken hostage by Alvarez and Perez.
In court, he identified the rifle held by Alvarez and the camouflage
mask worn by one of the abductors as well as the tape used to tie him
up and photos of the red marks the tape left on his wrists. He also
confirmed the bloodied hand in a photo belonged to his friend Jesus
Martin Torres — another man taken hostage and injured during the
shooting.
Ramos, who served less than a year in prison on a possession of
marijuana charge related to the case and was then deported, illegally
re-entered the country in September. He was transferred from the
Cameron County jail to testify Friday.
He said the day of the shooting began with the intended sale of
almost 20 pounds of marijuana to a man in a rural Hidalgo County
trailer. But, he denied any knowledge of where the drugs he sought to
sell came from, saying only that his sister-in-law was in possession
of them.
Ramos did say the woman asked for $150 per pound, while he and Torres
increased the price to $180 per pound. Torres' truck, owned by his
mother, was the vehicle involved in the shooting, he said.
Ramos also testified his sister-in-law and brother brought more
drugs, with their three young children in the car, after his life was
threatened by more men who had arrived at the trailer.
After that is when the abduction took to the county's rural roads, he
said.
"They've already got us," Ramos testified he heard Perez say moments
before the traffic stop.
The trial is expected to continue into next week.
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