Meth cash, nabbed by cops
Roadblock on N36 nets drug smugglers
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau
UPPER FRUITLAND, N.M. Two Mexican nationals
are awaiting deportation after they were nabbed at a sobriety checkpoint
by Navajo Nation Selective Traffic Enforcement Program officers
who found them in possession of methamphetamine.
Officer Clarence Bahe Jr., acting sergeant and supervisor for STEP,
said the team was conducting a DUI check at milepost 15.3 on Navajo
Route 36 from 12:30 to 4 p.m. Saturday, when, nine minutes after
they began, a blue Chevrolet Mailbu bearing New Mexico plates approached
the checkpoint.
Bahe spoke with the driver, Julio R. Urias, 25, and asked to see
his license, but Urias said he didn't have one. He and a passenger,
Jose Verdugo Martin Salazar, 21, showed the officer Mexico identification
cards. Both men are from Dom. Conocido Panaltita Sindhiguera, Mexico.
Bahe said he detected a strong odor of urine an indicator of methamphetamine
coming from inside the vehicle and instructed Urias to pull to the
side of the road.
Officer Rowland Dash asked the two to exit the vehicle and was in
the process of issuing a citation when he noticed that Urias began
acting "unusual."
Officers said he kept sticking his hands in his pockets, then removing
them and folding his arms across his chest. At the same time, he
kept looking around toward his vehicle and his friend continuously,
and could not stand still.
He appeared to be very nervous, they said. His hands were shaking;
he was sweating profusely, and kicking the dirt.
Officers said they noted numerous indicators of drug smuggling after
which Officers Dash and Israel Tsosie talked to Urias and Salazar
and were given permission to search the vehicle.
Bahe said neither the driver nor the passenger knew each other's
names, but told the officers they were friends. Urias also told
officers that the vehicle he was driving didn't belong to him, and
that he didn't know who it belonged to. Bahe said the vehicle is
registered to Melody Griffith of Farmington.
A K-9 unit was employed to conduct a search and at 1:41 p.m., the
K-9 alerted on the vehicle, where Dash found a wrapped, clear sandwich
bag between the driver and passenger seats. The bag contained a
white substance believed to be methamphetamine. A clear glass pipe
with white burned residue was found wrapped in tissue and tucked
underneath the back seat of the vehicle.
Urias and Salazar were taken into custody and charged with possession
of a controlled substance, Schedule II methamphetamine.
During a search incidental to arrest, Officers Bahe and Tsosie also
found a large amount of U.S. currency in the pockets of the two
suspects. Urias and Salazar were taken to San Juan County Jail where
they were booked into custody to await transport to El Paso, Texas,
from which point they were to be deported to Mexico.
The Selective Traffic Enforcement Program of the Navajo Nation currently
is working with Region II Narcotics Task Force, Navajo Nation K-9,
Navajo Nation Gang Task Force, Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) and other agencies.
New Mexico is a major corridor for illegal drugs smuggled into the
United States, according to New Mexico High-Intensity Drug Trafficking
Areas information.
A Drug Abuse Warning Network Report by the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration showed that in 2003, the Albuquerque
metropolitan area had more deaths per person due to drug misuse
than New York, Detroit, Denver, San Diego, Washington and 25 other
metro areas.
New Mexico seizures of methamphetamine in Calendar Year 2004 were
up 322 percent from 2003.
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Friday
July 27, 2007
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