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Apr 28, 2010
US breaks Mexican drug ring

PHOENIX - US POLICE arrested 34 people and broke up a drug smuggling network that hauled at least 20 tons of marijuana over the Mexico-Arizona border, authorities said on Tuesday. The US Attorney's office said the three-year operation targeted a ring smuggling marijuana over the border into Cochise County in south-east Arizona. The organisation used advanced counter surveillance techniques to spot for police, and deployed ramp trucks to drive vehicles loaded with marijuana over barriers along the border with Mexico. Arizona straddles a heavily trafficked corridor for both human and drug smugglers from Mexico. Last year, US Border Patrol agents made more than 241,000 arrests in the sector south of Tucson, Arizona and seized more than 60 tons of marijuana.

The US government is under pressure to crack down on cross-border crime in the desert state after a prominent cattleman was shot dead on his ranch in south-east Arizona late last month. Police followed tracks from the scene of the shooting to the Mexico border, but made no arrests. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed a measure this week cracking down on illegal immigrants in the state, which gives state and local police the authority to determine whether people are in the country legally. Among those arrested in the operation was an employee of the Cochise County Attorney's Office, who is charged with accepting cash in exchange for passing confidential information to one of the smugglers. -- REUTERS