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About 3,500 acres of southern Arizona have been closed off to U.S. citizens due to increased violence at the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The closed off area includes part of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge that stretches along the U.S.-Mexico border. Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu told Fox News that violence against law enforcement officers and U.S. citizens has increased in the past four months, forcing officers on an 80 mile stretch of Arizona land north of the Mexico border off-limits to Americans

PHOENIX (AP) -- An increase in smuggling violence at the Sonoran Desert National Monument about 80 miles south of Phoenix has prompted a stronger warning to visitors about drug and immigrant traffickers passing through the public lands, officials said Tuesday. The monument and three other federal lands in Arizona already have signs warning visitors that they may encounter smugglers. But 11 new signs have recently been erected...

SIERRA VISTA — Border Patrol agents working in the west desert of southern Arizona encountered drug smugglers trying out a new way to cover their tracks over the weekend: Carpet shoes. Early Saturday morning, agents assigned to the Casa Grande station of the Tucson Sector found signs of about 13 people traveling on foot near Sells, said Agent David Jimarez. Agents tracking the smugglers found signs that they appeared to have secured carpeting to the soles of their shoes in an attempt to hide their footprints, Jimarez said. The plan was poorly thought out, as agents are “not trained to...

PHOENIX (AP) - Two men shot and killed in a remote desert area about 50 miles south of Phoenix were probably ambushed by fellow smugglers, Pinal County sheriff's officials said Friday. The men had been at a migrant camp in the desert south of Interstate 8 near Antelope Peak on Sunday night when someone opened fire on them with an AK-47-type weapon, shooting each man once, said sheriff's spokeswoman Lt. Tamatha Villar. One died immediately, but the other managed to get off six shots with an AR-15-type rifle. The wounded man then used a cell phone to call for help....

More than 1,500 pounds of marijuana were discovered in a pickup by U.S. Border Patrol agents northwest of Bisbee, authorities said Tuesday. From October 2009 through April 2010, Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents have seized approximately 552,000 pounds of marijuana, estimated to be worth $441 million.

Border Patrol agents seized almost three tons of marijuana in four incidents during a 48-hour period. In two separate but similar incidents — one on Monday and one one on Tuesday — border patrol agents from the Ajo station were searching the desert for signs of illegal activity and came across an abandoned pickup truck. Each truck contained more than 1,700 pounds of marijuana, said agency spokeswoman Colleen Agle. The size of the loads is a departure from the smaller loads smugglers had been bringing across, she said. She would not speculate whether the two incidents were related. Also on...

SIERRA VISTA — Now is the time for the federal government to step up and provide the necessary support to secure Arizona’s border with Mexico, Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever told members of Congress on Tuesday. Speaking before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in Washington, Dever laid out the challenges facing law enforcement agencies along Arizona’s southern border. “Today, everything is much more organized, much more dangerous and much more dire,” he said. No longer are illegal immigrants simply flowing into the country themselves, he said. “They’re lead by very ruthless, armed and well-equipped individuals who...

Drug smugglers are turning to a sharp law enforcement tactic as they try to stop Texas law officers from chasing them.... Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Joe Trevino says agents in south Texas have had spikes thrown at their vehicles at least five times this year. Trevino told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times that at least 15 incidents were reported in 2009, in which 33 vehicles were damaged, including 13 civilian cars and trucks. Just one incident was reported in 2008...

Federal authorities say a person wearing scuba gear apparently tried to sneak two bundles of marijuana across the Mexican border through a sewer system. Border Patrol agents operating infrared cameras noticed several individuals illegally crossing into Arizona using a sewer outlet near Douglas on Friday. The Douglas Station's bike patrol went to the sewer system and saw one person carrying two bundles that were suspected to be marijuana. That person was wearing a wet suit and scuba gear and was wading through waist-high water with the bundles. The person saw the agents, dropped the bundles and began wading back toward...

State Trooper Mike Franklin circled the water-logged Jeep Grand Cherokee, puzzling over a way to get inside. Freshly plucked Monday morning from the bottom of the Rio Grande, the vehicle likely held cargo lost years ago by the river’s flow. So far, though, all efforts to crack open the twisted hunk of steel had failed. The rusted trunk door lock barely budged even with the keys found in the ignition. A crowbar offered little help in removing the years of accumulated sludge caked on the hinges. “And this isn’t the only one,” said State Trooper Johnny Hernandez, spokesman for the...

BAGHDAD — The Iraqi Ministry of Defense held a ceremony to commemorate the recovery of 235 artifacts by Iraqi Army commandos from smugglers and the subsequent handover of the items to the Iraqi Tourism and Antiquities Ministry on April 16. Iraqi Minister of Defense Abd Al-Qadir said, “The Iraqi Army is putting extraordinary pressure on smuggling gangs, which steal Iraq’s history to finance terrorist operations.” “The recovery of the artifacts was a joyous occasion because they could not be replaced with money and represented 5,000 years of Iraqi history," The Minister added. Citizens in Abu El-Kahsib, Bab El-Tawael and El-Amir...

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A cartel engaged in Mexico's deadly drug wars has told its members to avoid heavy drinking and using narcotics and live a clean family life as it tries to build a well-run criminal organization, police say. Rafael Cedeno, a leader of "The Family" cartel based in the western state of Michoacan, told police after he was arrested at the weekend he had trained several thousand cartel members with courses in ethics and personal improvement. "The indoctrination of this group consisted of courses they considered to be for personal improvement, values, ethical and moral principles of the...

<p>MEXICO CITY – Mexico has extradited two former U.S. Border Patrol agents accused of taking bribes from migrant smugglers.</p> <p>The U.S. Embassy says Raul Villarreal and Fidel Villarreal allegedly fled to Mexico after they learned U.S. authorities were investigating them in 2006. The brothers were veteran agents in the San Diego area.</p>

PHOENIX (Reuters) – Hit men dressed in fake police tactical gear burst into a home in Phoenix, rake it with gunfire and execute a man.

The entire crew of a South African Airways flight have been arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling - for the second time in a month. Fifteen members of the flight crew, including the pilot, were detained today at London's Heathrow after customs officers found five kilos of cocaine in a bag.  They were being held by officers after the class A drug, with an estimated street value of £250,000, was discovered as the crew tried to clear customs following a 12-hour flight from Johannesburg. Bob Gaiger, spokesman for HM Revenue and Customs, said the drugs were discovered after the...

BISBEE — U.S. Border Patrol agents working west of Douglas arrested 77 Mexican nationals after camera operators identified them crossing the border on Saturday evening. This is the second apprehension of a large group of illegal immigrants in the same area between Douglas and Naco, Ariz., in the past two weeks, Tucson Sector spokesman Mike Scioli told the Herald/Review on Monday. On Jan. 26, 53 illegal immigrants were taken into custody at one time. Again, the effort was the result of a coordination between agents of the Douglas and Naco stations, along with Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine....

MANAMA, Bahrain, Dec. 29, 2008 – Coalition warships operating in the North Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden as part of Combined Task Force 150 have seized more than 20 tons of narcotics since October, with an estimated value of more than $100 million, officials said. CTF 150, also tasked with conducting counter-piracy operations, is part of a continual presence in the region committed to creating and maintaining a lawful maritime order. The task force has seized more than 53 tons of narcotics during 2008, officials said. The drugs, seized by U.S. and Royal Navy forces, otherwise could have been...

By Michael Webster, Syndicated Investigative Reporter Early this month U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Tucson, Ariz. sector and agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were again fired upon with what appeared to be military type automatic weapons by Mexican drug smugglers dressed in military garb. Agents after observing a Flatbed tow truck on the Mexican side of the U.S. Mexican border backed up to the new international border fence. According to witnesses the tow truck backed up on a newly constructed earthen dirt berm which put the truck almost even with the height of the fence. The tow...

Drug smugglers opened fire on federal agents late Monday night near Douglas during a drug bust. Agents from the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement spotted two large trucks, a Chevrolet Avalanche and a Ford F-150, using ramps to drive over an approximately 8-foot border fence about 10:30 p.m. some five miles west of Douglas on James Ranch Road, said Mike Scioli, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. As agents approached the trucks, the drug smugglers turned around and tried to flee back into Mexico. But, agents threw down tire spikes, stopping both trucks north of the international line....

Over 40 Murders Reported this Week CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - New details on a deadly discovery across the border from El Paso. This morning police in Ciudad Juarez say at least 12 masked gun men opened fire inside an upscale seafood restaurant and killed at least eight people. The attack comes a day after seven men were found executed in a school soccer field in an upper class neighborhood in Juarez. In all, 40 murders were reported over the holiday week along the border near El Paso. Police say the men were armed with AK-47 and fired off more than...