AZMEX UPDATE 23-10-12

AZMEX UPDATE 23 OCT 2012


Border Patrol: Agents shot at from Mexico; 5 alleged smugglers arrested
Posted: Monday, October 22, 2012 10:00 pm | Updated: 11:04 pm, Mon
Oct 22, 2012.
Ildefonso Ortiz
http://www.themonitor.com/news/local/
article_f48ac412-1ca9-11e2-9913-0019bb30f31a.html

LOS EBANOS — Five men from Mexico face federal drug charges after
U.S. Border Patrol agents were fired upon from the Mexican side of
the Rio Grande.
The shooting took place Friday evening along the river near Los
Ebanos after agents saw a dark Ford Expedition that approached the
river and then was loaded with bundles of marijuana by several men
who had used rafts to move the bundles from Mexico to the U.S. side,
court records show.
The agents requested backup and moved in to intercept the vehicle as
it was leaving the river, heading northbound. Upon spotting the
agents, the vehicle turned around and headed back to the river, where
the driver ditched the Expedition.
According to a written statement from Border Patrol, the driver of
the vehicle waded toward a raft in an effort to get across to the
Diaz Ordaz side of the river. When the agents chased him on foot,
they came under fire from a gunman on the Mexican side of the river,
who had perched himself in a tree. After taking fire, the agents
fired their weapons back at the gunman.
It remains unclear how many rounds were fired at the agents or how
many were fired back, but the agents were not hurt in the firefight,
court records show.
Once the shooting ended, the agents searched the area, finding 63
bundles of marijuana — with a total weight of 1,017 pounds — and five
smugglers.
On Monday morning, the five alleged smugglers were taken before U.S.
Magistrate Judge Peter Ormsby, who ordered they be held without bond
pending a detention hearing Wednesday morning. The men were charged
with one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled
substance–marijuana.
The men were identified as Jose Maria Garza Lara, Arturo Hernandez
Ruiz, Eduardo Camarillo Valdez, Sergio Emanuel Camarillo Valdez and
Andres Gonzalez Jordan. Each of the men told investigators that they
were part of the group that had been smuggling the drugs.
Garza Lara told investigators that he was the driver of the vehicle
and was to be paid $600 for driving the load to an undisclosed location.
The shooting is under investigation by U.S. Customs and Border
Protection and the FBI.


Note: more catch and release?

Authorities seize 110 pounds of marijuana on I-8
Tue, 10/23/2012 - 9:29am
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.svherald.com/associatedpress/335965

FLORENCE, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities say a Mexican man has been turned
over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being arrested
with 110 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle. The Pinal County
Sheriff's Office says a K-9 deputy stopped a vehicle on Interstate 8
last week for numerous traffic violations.

They say the deputy noticed a strong odor coming from the car, and
found a blue tarp covering what turned out to be five bundles of
marijuana valued at about $77,000.
The suspect was booked into the Pinal County Adult Detention Center,
and later turned over to federal immigration authorities.

The sheriff's office says the man had been using fake Social Security
numbers and had previously been deported from the U.S. seven times.