Tucson, Arizona Saturday, 6 July 2002
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/20706bordervehicles.html
False business logos on smugglers' vehicles
By Patty Machelor
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
U.S. Border Patrol agents are watching closely for vehicles falsely decorated with business logos being used to sneak illegal entrants and drugs into Southern Arizona.
Since April, there have been three cases of smugglers near Douglas "trying to use legitimate businesses to disguise their illegal activities,'' said Ryan Scudder, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman.
The latest incident was Thursday when an agent became suspicious of a pickup truck with a QWest Communications logo driving back and forth near milepost 389 along Arizona 80.
Scudder said a license plate check showed the vehicle, which had typical telephone repair equipment as well as the logo, was not registered to QWest, but instead to a Phoenix resident.
A short time later, agents picked up a group of 22 illegal entrants who came to the roadway in that same area.
The driver, a 31-year-old man from Hermosillo, Sonora, admitted to being an illegal entrant. Scudder would not release his name, but said the man returned to Mexico after he gave agents a statement.
Scudder said the case remains under investigation. He said the driver was not charged with smuggling because he didn't have illegal entrants in the truck when he was stopped.
In April, an illegal entrant was caught driving a Chevy van marked as a Federal Express vehicle. Scudder said a check on the license came back to a resident in Phoenix.
And in June, a utility vehicle and a pickup truck falsely marked as city of Douglas vehicles were used in a failed attempt to smuggle marijuana into the United States. When the drivers realized agents were pursuing them, Scudder said, they abandoned the trucks and ran back into Mexico. Both cases remain under investigation, he said.
* Contact reporter Patty Machelor at 807-7789 or pmachelo@azstarnet.com
All content copyright ©
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 AzStarNet, Arizona Daily Star and its wire services and
suppliers and may not be republished without permission. All rights reserved.
Any copying, redistribution, or retransmission of any of the contents of this
service without the expressed written consent of Arizona Daily Star or AzStarNet
is prohibited.