When deputies approached a white Chevy pick-up to speak with the driver, he and his front passenger fled on foot into the nearby residential community of Ahwatukee. As a result, Maricopa County Human Smuggling Unit arrested 15 suspected undocumented entrants in the vicinity of Interstate 10 and Warner Road on Monday.
Thirteen suspects were found hidden beneath a tarp covered by a ladder. The two who fled the vehicle were located about 90 minutes later by deputies and Tempe police Officers who assisted the Sheriff’s Office in the search. The two males were located a mile away in a residential yard, hiding in the upper braches of an orange tree.
During the investigation deputies were later informed by the suspected undocumented entrants that they were being smuggled into the country after paying the main smuggler between $2,000 and $4,000. All suspected undocumented entrants were to be driven from the U.S/Mexico border to their destinations which were Phoenix, California, Texas, Idaho and New Jersey. All suspects were booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail for class four felony charges.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio says,” The entry into Maricopa County from Mexico does not seem to have subsided by evidence of the recent arrests by my deputies.”
The majority of the 67 arrested during the 30 day operation were booked into the 4th Avenue Jail for class four felony violations
To date the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has arrested 5,700 undocumented entrants aliens involved in human smuggling.