Traffic Stop Leads to the Discovery of Another Marijuana Load Vehicle

NEWSRELEASE

Pinal County Sheriff’s Office • 971 Jason Lopez Circle
Florence, Arizona 85132 • 520-866-5174 • Fax: 520-866-5195

Monday, June 13, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Media Relations, Tim Gaffney, 520-705-8124

Traffic Stop Leads to the Discovery of Another Marijuana Load Vehicle

On June 11th, 2011 at 8:55 p.m. a Pinal County Sheriff’s Deputy attempted to stop a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee eastbound on Interstate-8 near Vekol Valley after observing it commit several traffic violations. This area in a known location used by those involved with drug and human trafficking.


The vehicle initially failed to yield to the deputy’s emergency lights and siren. The vehicle finally did yield and came to an abrupt stop along the shoulder of the Interstate. Immediately, the driver’s door and front passenger’s side door opened. Two males ran from the vehicle southbound into the desert. The deputy found three more males subjects still seated in the back seat of the vehicle. The deputy could see in plain view several packaged bundles of what he believed to be marijuana in the rear portion of the vehicle. The three males were taken into custody. The three individuals were all citizens of Mexico and were in the United States illegally. They were turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol for processing.

The bundles turned out to be over 3,400 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $1,700,000. Deputies and members of the U.S. Border Patrol attempted to track the individuals who fled from the vehicle through the desert but they were unsuccessful. The vehicle was seized by the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.