A traffic stop by a PCSO detective with the Anti-smuggling Unit on Papago Road near Highway 347 has resulted in the seizure of 495 pounds of marijuana and one person arrested for drug smuggling.
The incident started on Papago Road at about 7:30 a.m.,when a deputy observed a red Chevrolet SUV make an abrupt turn off the roadway and onto a dirt farm road and drive away from the deputy’s marked patrol vehicle at a high rate of speed. As the deputy followed the vehicle on the dirt farm road, he observed it driving in circles at dangerous speeds and between the fields where workers were present. The vehicle eventually made its way back onto Papago Road, fleeing north on Amarillo Valley Road and west on Teel Road, to where it was abandoned near Ralston Road. An unknown number of occupants fled the vehicle into surrounding farm fields.
Sheriff Paul Babeu said, “The deputy found the vehicle abandoned with 22 bales of marijuana inside, later weighted to be 495 pounds. While looking for the suspects, he contacted a group of farm workers near where the vehicle was abandoned and identified one person who had run into the group to conceal his involvement in the incident. He was easily identified as having fled from the vehicle by the work crews who saw the incident. The smuggler had a working two-way radio on his person when arrested and the deputy heard what he believed to be other smugglers and scouts talking in Spanish. The radio was impounded as evidence along with the 22 bales of marijuana. The smuggler was identified as Aldo Aleman, 19, of Stanfield. He is being held in the Pinal County Jail awaiting charges for Drug Smuggling and Possession of Drugs for Sale.”