Police in Arizona bust human smuggling ring

Smuggling ring supects

On Friday, Sierra Vista police announced the arrests of Kelley T. Fort, 18; Joshua R. Kleese, 18; Raymon A. Lopez, 21; Jaquary T. Richard, 18; Francisco G. Ruiz, 19; and Dakota J. Sawvell, 19. All six were charged with human smuggling and criminal syndicate.

The group was allegedly transporting illegal aliens to Phoenix.

The arrests are a result of an investigation which began in July, when U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped a car in Benson, AZ and discovered several illegal aliens in the vehicle. The car was registered to Lopez.

Despite their young ages, some of the suspects already have criminal records, including Ruiz, who just last month, was convicted of money laundering.

All six are being held in the Cochise County Jail on $40, 000 bond.

In recent years, Mexican drug cartels have largely taken over the human smuggling trade. The cartels now use those crossing into the U.S. illegally to smuggle drugs across the border. This method is much less conspicuous than driving vans loaded with drugs through the desert.

In 2008, U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Special Agent Joe Romero told the San Francisco Chronicle: "The drug cartels have determined this is big business. Drug cartels control these corridors. Just like we're watching them here, they're watching us. ... It used to be, 'Get across the fence and run.' Now it's a lot more organized."

The involvement of the cartels in the human smuggling trade has made life even more dangerous for our Border Patrol agents. Often, when agents now encounter a so-called ’coyote,’ they are attacked.

Agent Romero reported that assaults on agents in the El Paso area alone, increased by 150 percent in 2008.

Illustrating just how deeply the human smuggling business has become in Arizona, is the announcement by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, that they discovered a record 163 ‘drop houses’ last year in the Phoenix area.