Man Stopped in AZ for Drug Trafficking

A Mexican man, who remains unidentified, was arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle about 1,100 pounds of pot across the border from Mexico.^[1] One U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agent was injured Sunday, August 26, during a prolonged high-speed chase.^[2]

The incident began around 1:30 p.m. when agents approached the man's truck, which was stopped on the side of state Route 85 near Gila Bend, when approached the man allegedly man sped off, causing a chase that agents called off when he began to drive too fast.^[3]

Yuma agents called agents in the Border Patrol's Tucson sector with a description of the vehicle and it was spotted parked in a wash near Ajo around 2:45 p.m.^[4] When found, an agent and a police dog approached the man, who again sped off south on Route 85, when the agent reported seeing bundles in the truck bed that he suspected were marijuana.^[5]

USBP Agents spotted the truck turning down a side road and where proceeding on foot when the truck turned around and collided with the agent's Border Patrol vehicle, injuring the agent's leg, the injured agent's name has not been released.^[6]

The driver got out of the truck and was arrested; once in custody, the man allegedly told agents he had HIV and tuberculosis and had received abrasions from the chase, he was thereafter taken to a Phoenix-area hospital for treatment and will be booked into jail on state and federal criminal charges related to the alleged smuggling and the pursuit.^[7]

Drug importation is covered under 21 U.S.C. § 952 wherein is states that it is a crime for a person to import into the United States any controlled substance in schedule I or II, or any narcotic drug in schedules III, IV, or V;^[8] or for a person to import into the United States any non-narcotic controlled substance found in schedules III, IV, or V;^[9]

The delineation of the drug schedules can be found on our Drug Crimes page.

Drug possession is covered under 21 U.S.C. § 841, this refers to "possession with intent to distribute," and it is, in most cases, a crime for any person to knowingly or intentionally manufacture, distribute, or dispense, or possess with intent to manufacture, distribute, or dispense, a controlled substance;^[10] or create, distribute, or dispense, or possess with intent to distribute or dispense, a counterfeit substance.^[11]

Federal criminal defense attorney Douglas McNabb has previously discussed the transnational crime of drug trafficking here.

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^[1] Ryn Gargulinski, Smuggling suspect caught after chase, Tucson Citizen, August 29, 2007, available at http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/61363.php (last visited August 29, 2007).
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Id.
^[6] Id.
^[7] Id.
^[8] 21 U.S.C. §952 (a)(2007).
^[9] Id., at §952(b).
^[10] 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1)(2007).
^[11] Id. § 841(a)(2).