Mexico Trucker Online Articles

Omnibus Mexicanos – One arrested for arms smuggling at border

Passenger on Omnibus Mexicanos enroute from Houston, arrested for smuggling weapons into Mexico

During a routine inspection of an American bus entering Mexico, Army units discovered a person trying to smuggle guns into Mexico illegally.

The bus, Omnibuses Mexicanos of Houston Texas. The location, Bridge number 2 at the foot of I-35.

Confiscated was a 12 gauge shotgun, a .22 caliber rifle with scope and a .380 semi auto pistol from Luis Estrada Carrizal, 62 years old.

All passengers were detained for a period of time at the Palacio Federal by agents of Mexican Customs and the Attorney General’s investigators. All with the exception of Mr. Carrizel were allowed to continue their journey later in the day.

This is the second time an American bus has been detained at the border. Tuesday, during another routine inspection, $120,000.00 was found. No person claimed ownership of the money.

Buses are inspected on both sides of the border as they enter the respective countries for contraband, including drugs, undeclared money and illegals.

Not a big deal as the old fool was probably thinking to make a quick buck although weapons of these types are not a favorite of the cartels. Carrizel is looking at a minimum of 2 years in Mexican Federal Prison.

Lax US Gun Laws arm Mexican Cartels and contribute to the violence

Weapons seized by BATF which were attempted to be smuggled into Mexico to arm the cartels

A push by U.S. and Mexican authorities to combat the high-powered arms trafficking that fuels Mexico’s bloody drug war is putting increasing numbers of suspected drug smugglers in court.

Prosecutions for federal gun law violations are on pace to reach a 20-year high in South Texas as federal agents work to stem the “iron river of guns” that officials estimate supply 90 percent of the weapons used by the cartels.

The push is stretching the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ 135 agents along the 2,000-mile border who are tasked with monitoring some 6,700 licensed gun dealers. In Texas the legal shops offer a buffet of high-powered automatic rifles, some of which have been used to kill thousands in drug-related violence this year.

“There’s no other source for guns,” said Francesca Perot, a Houston-based ATF spokeswoman. “It’s not rocket science — it’s cliché. The weapons come from here.”

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Former American trucking company owner sentenced for drug smuggling

McALLEN -(The Monitor) The former owner of an Edinburg. Texas trucking business was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday for his role in a drug smuggling and money laundering ring.

A federal jury in Houston found Ricardo Garcia Heredia, 44, of McAllen, guilty in May of multiple counts of conspiracy and drug possession.

Prosecutors allege Garcia used his business – Edinburg-based Earth Transportation – as a front to recruit drivers for cocaine shipments that passed through the Rio Grande Valley on their way to Chicago.

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In the Courts – Two Dallas Men on trial for smuggling pot

A U.S. Border Patrol agent told jurors Friday in federal court that she had been involved in the pursuit of a tractor she said was driven by Artis Ryan Miller.The pursuit started when Agent Judy Sepulveda’s canine unit alerted her to the presence of marijuana in a tractor Aug. 2, 2007, at the Border Patrol checkpoint on U.S. 59 near Freer, she said in court.

Sepulveda identified Miller in court as the driver of the truck.

An agent sent the truck to secondary inspection, but the driver drove off on the highway, Sepulveda said.
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Sen Cornyn introduces legislation for permanent revocation of CDL’s

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn announced new federal legislation Friday that aims to crack down on commercial truck drivers who smuggle illegal immigrants.The legislation, dubbed the Putting the Brakes on Human Smuggling Act, imposes tougher penalties against commercial truck drivers convicted of smuggling humans, said Cornyn, who was flanked at the Laredo North checkpoint by Carlos X. Carrillo, Laredo Sector Border Patrol chief; Gene Belmares, mayor pro tem; and Steve McCraw, Texas Homeland Security director, among others.

“While those who smuggle narcotics generally lose their commercial license permanently, human smugglers are often free to continue operating commercial vehicles and frequently continue to break the law,” Cornyn stated.

Under current federal law, those convicted of smuggling drugs can receive a lifetime suspension of their commercial driver’s license, with no opportunity to reapply. However, anyone convicted of smuggling humans can have their commercial driver’s license suspended for only a year.

And, if they receive a second conviction of smuggling illegal immigrants, they can wait up to 10 years before reapplying for a commercial driver’s license.

“We’re going to be urging colleagues of Congress to act to eliminate this disparity and make sure we discourage all manner of illegal activity here along the border region,” Cornyn said.
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Texas to revoke truckers CDL for smuggling violationsb

AUSTIN — Truckers who smuggle drugs or people into the U.S. are now risking not only prison time but also the loss of their commercial driver’s licenses as Texas uses a longstanding law in a new border crime crackdown.

“Up until today, when those lawbreakers had their trucks apprehended, they were convicted in federal court, they typically paid a small fine or served a brief sentence, then it was back to business as usual. Well, starting today, that all changes,” Gov. “Slick” Rick Perry said Thursday at the Texas Capitol with U.S. Border Patrol sector chiefs.

“If you are a commercial trucker who is involved in the illicit transportation of drugs or humans and you get caught, our effort’s going to be to stop you from being able to drive a truck again for the rest of your life,” he said.

The “Texas Hold ‘Em” initiative is meant to ensure the Texas Department of Public Safety, which oversees driver’s licenses, gets documentation of federal smuggling convictions so it can suspend or revoke commercial driver’s licenses under existing law. In the past, there was a gap in convictions being reported, said Judy Brown, chief of the DPS driver license division.

The Texas initiative already has resulted in suspension of commercial driver’s license privileges in Texas in five cases, DPS spokeswoman Tela Mange said. Two are Texas licenses, and the other three states — Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina — will be notified so they can revoke those licenses, Mange said. One Texas case was for smuggling drugs; the rest involved smuggling people.

Under state and federal law, people convicted of transporting illegal drugs face a lifetime disqualification of their commercial driver’s license privileges, Brown said.

The disqualification for smuggling unauthorized immigrants is a year’s license suspension for a first offense and a lifetime revocation for a second offense, she said. That’s on top of criminal penalties.

Another feel good initiative from the offices of “Slick Rick” which I doubt will have any deterrent to the problem. If they want to tackle the problem head on, why not do something about the leeches, like “Cadillac Man” in El Paso, “Doc” in Laredo Texas, who facilitate the relationship between smugglers and truckers.

“Alien- and drug-smuggling organizations are aggressively recruiting truck drivers using the promise of easy money, sex and drugs,” said Carlos Carrillo, chief of the Border Patrol’s Laredo Sector.

In these tough economic times, this is an attractive way to make a few extra bucks, but now, unlike in years past, the chances of getting busted are almost 100%. I see it weekly at the CBP checkpoints around Laredo, American trucks in impound having been caught with illegal cargo.

We’ll see how this “Texas Hold Em” Initiative pans out, but I wouldn’t get too excited about it. Only if you are licensed in Texas.

U.S. bus company owners indicted in drug smuggling conspiracy

Editors Note: Despite what some of the “white trash” right wing blogs, whose mission in life is to trash Mexico is claiming, a US owned bus companies owners and employees came under indictment this week for using company equipment to smuggle drugs from the Rio Grande Valley to points north. Good catch, but why did it take so long?

Eighteen persons, including alleged drug traffickers and the owners/operators of commercial bus companies operating from Mexico into the Rio Grande Valley to numerous U.S. cities and their drivers, have been indicted for transporting large loads of marijuana and cocaine in specially modified commercial buses and money laundering.

The need for more marijuana rehab centers is becoming more apparent as the number of marijuana abusers grows each day.

The indictment is the result of a long-term Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) investigation dubbed Operation Road King II.

United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced the unsealing of the indictment today at a press conference. The 16-count indictment returned by a Houston grand jury March 31, 2008, was unsealed today.

John P. Walters, the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, on an official visit to the Houston area, attended the press conference and commented upon the positive impact the coordinated and cooperative effort federal, state and local law enforcement action has had on reducing the supply of drugs and the concomitant reduction in demand.

Special Agent in Charge Andrew Bland of FBI Houston, together with Special Agent in Charge Zoran B. Yankovich of DEA Houston, recognized their law enforcement colleagues in the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (HIDTA) which, in this case, included the Houston Police Department, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) for their long-standing commitment and outstanding contributions to this OCDETF investigation. The U.S. Marshals Service, also a member of HIDTA, was recognized for its extraordinary efforts during the arrest process.

The indictment, unsealed today, describes the use of specially modified commercial buses by alleged drug traffickers interested in smuggling contraband into the United States from Monterrey, Mexico, or transporting contraband from the Rio Grande Valley to Houston and Dallas, Texas; Allentown, Pa.; Joliet, Ill. and elsewhere. The indictment alleges the owners or managers of the Transtar, Neptune Tours, Los Primos, USA-MEX and Ameri-Mex commercial bus companies, with offices and terminals in Monterrey, Mexico and Rio Grande City, Roma, San Antonio and Houston, Texas, used their various companies as a front for their drug transport services, and hired drivers and loaders to transport the illegal cargo in hidden compartments built into the bus or in areas not accessible to the public. In exchange for the services, the indictment alleges the owners/managers of the bus companies received thousands of dollars in kickbacks from the proceeds of the drug loads from which they drew their share and paid the drivers and loaders.

According to the indictment, this drug transport service has been in operation since at least November 2001 and is responsible for transporting hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, thousands of pounds of marijuana from the border to points north and millions of dollars in drug proceeds south to Mexico.

OCEDTF Operation Road King II targeted this organization beginning in 2001 and through the use of tried and true investigative techniques, communication, coordination and cooperation, ultimately established a more sophisticated undercover operation. Through that undercover operation, more than 570 kilograms of cocaine, 3,000 plus pounds of marijuana and the thousands of dollars in cash have been seized. Additionally, this multi-agency investigative effort has lead to arrests in and the seizure of 200 kilograms of cocaine in Allentown and 1,100 pounds of marijuana in Joliet. Information gathered through the investigation was shared with law enforcement agencies in other U.S. cities including New York, North Carolina, New Jersey, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida and Maryland.

The indictment identifies Abel Trevino Jr., 43, of Houston; Oscar Jaime Garcia Prado, 42, a resident alien residing in Brookshire, Texas; Miguel Montemayor, 39, a resident alien residing in Roma, Texas; Victor Hinojosa, 41, a resident alien residing in Houston; and Eduardo Trevino, 40, of Linares, Mexico, as the owners/managers of the various commercial bus companies operating as fronts for transporting cocaine and marijuana from Mexico to various locations in the U.S. in exchange for cash payments. The amount of the payment often depended upon the kind of drug, the size of the load and its ultimate destination. For example, the indictment alleges the defendants charge from $500 per kilogram of cocaine bound for the U.S. side of the border to $7,000 per kilogram of cocaine bound for New York. The buses were specially equipped with hidden compartments to conceal loads of contraband from detection. According to allegations in the indictment, the owner/managers discussed ways to operate their buses to protect themselves from detection by law enforcement including changing the names of the bus companies as loads of cocaine and marijuana were seized to claiming the buses were leased to others. Abel Trevino, Montemayor and Hinojosa were arrested today in Houston. A warrant remains outstanding for the arrest of Prado and Eduardo Trevino.

Leticia Enedina Fournier, 58; Guadalupe Karr Cortez, 47, an illegal alien, Jesse Trevino, 48, a resident alien, and Alejandro Carmargo-Guerra, 59, a resident alien, all of Houston; Victor Rocha, 39, a resident alien residing in Dickinson, Texas, and Enrique Alvaro Saldana, 53, a resident alien residing in Roma, Texas, are alleged co-conspirators hired by the owner/managers as bus drivers and loaders who were paid by the owners/managers to transport and deliver the drug loads hidden aboard the commercial buses as directed by the owners/managers. This morning, investigating agents arrested Trevino and Rocha in Houston, Carmargo-Guerra in Waco, Texas, and Cortez in Lake Charles, La. Warrants remain outstanding for the arrest of Fournier and Saldana.

Guadalupe Castaneda, 46, of Roma, Texas; Eduardo Cirilo, 42, of Pharr, Texas; Eduardo Salinas, 29, of Mission, Texas; Jose Armando Muniz, 33, of Weslaco, Texas; Rafael Armando Ramirez, 32, an illegal alien residing in the Houston area; Luis Larios, 36, and Robert Salazar Rivera, 48, both of Monterrey, Mexico, are accused of utilizing and paying for the services of the bus companies to transport loads of cocaine and marijuana to various locations in the United States. Eduardo Salinas was arrested this morning in McAllen, Texas, while Cirilo was arrested today in Baton Rouge, La. Warrants remain outstanding for the arrest of Castaneda, Muniz, Ramirez, Larios and Rivera.

All 18 defendants are charged in the conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana and face no less than 10 years and a maximum of life imprisonment if convicted. Most of the defendants are also charged with conspiracy to launder drug proceeds and face a maximum of 20 years imprisonment if convicted. The remaining 14 counts of the indictment charge various defendants with aiding and abetting the possession with intent to distribute varying amounts of either cocaine for marijuana and face punishment ranges upon conviction from a maximum of five years imprisonment to life imprisonment and millions of dollars in fines.

The indictment also serves notice on the defendants of the intent of the United States to forfeit their interests in a number of real properties located in east Houston, Texas, which were allegedly used to facilitate or obtained with proceeds from the crimes alleged in the indictment.

This case will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jesse Rodriguez.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law.

Operation Road King II, a multi-agency investigation into bus operators who allegedly smuggled drugs, netted a 16-count federal indictment unsealed Wednesday against:

OWNERS:
Miguel Montemayor, 39, of Roma (in custody)
Abel Treviño, 43, of Houston (in custody)
Victor Hinojosa, 41, of Houston (in custody)
Oscar Jaime Garcia Prado, 42, of Brookshire
Eduardo Treviño, 41, of Linares, Tamps.

DRIVERS:
Enrique Alvaro Saldaña, 53, of Roma
Jesse Treviño, 48, of Houston (in custody)
Victor Rocha, 39, of Dickinson (in custody)
Alejandro Camargo-Guerra, 59, of Houston (in custody)
Leticia Endedina Fournier, 58, of Houston

DRUG SUPPLIERS:
Guadalupe Castañeda, 46, of Roma
Eduardo Cirilo, 42, of Pharr (in custody)
Eduardo Salinas, 29, of Mission (in custody)
Jose Armando Muñiz, 33, of Weslaco
Rafael Armando Ramirez, 32, of Houston
Luis Larios, 36, of Monterrey, N.L.
Robert Salazar Rivera, 48, of Monterrey, N.L.

CBP officers seize $1.8 million in drugs

LAREDO — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized $1.8 million in cocaine and marijuana in three separate incidents recently, according to a news release from the agency.

The largest seizure occurred Feb. 17, at the Lincoln-Juarez Bridge when a drug dog reacted to the odor of narcotics emanating from the rear rocker panel area of a 2007 Toyota Camry.

Officers found nearly 42 pounds of cocaine. A passenger in the car, Darrell Wayne Phillips, 43, of Clewiston, Fla., was arrested. The cocaine has an estimated street value of $1.3 million.

On Feb. 15, at 6:40 p.m. at the Gateway to the Americas Bridge, an officer noticed discrepancies in the rear trunk area of a 1997 Ford Taurus driven by Luisa Valdez Cantu, 20, a resident alien from San Antonio. A drug dog pointed officers to 87 pounds of marijuana behind the rear seat. The marijuana has an estimated street value of $87,000.

On the same day, shortly after noon at the Lincoln-Juarez Bridge, a drug dog alerted officers to nearly 13 pounds of cocaine in the engine area of a 1996 Chrysler Town and Country driven by a 22-year-old Mexican citizen. The cocaine has an estimated street valued of $412,000.

Interesting. All four wheelers trying to smuggle the crap! Imagine that! And in other news,

One right wing website reported on February 16, that 85 illegal aliens discovered hidden inside 4 separate tractor trailers making it sound as if the trucks were coming direct from Mexico with their illegal cargo. This method of reporting has become increasingly common as websites continue to try and make Mexico and it’s citizens, scapegoats for all out problems in the US.

What is the truth behind this claim?

The first group of 15 Mexicans was discovered at about 7 p.m. hiding inside the cab’s sleeper compartment. At about 8:30 p.m. a second group of 12 Mexicans and three Guatemalans was also found hiding in a tractor trailer’s sleeper cab. Just before 11 p.m. another tractor trailer was stopped, and 32 illegal aliens were discovered in the locked trailer with no means of escape. The last truck was stopped just a few minutes later, and 20 Mexicans, two Hondurans, and a Salvadoran were found also locked in the trailer. All those discovered inside the trailers appeared to be in good health; they declined medical attention.

Charges are pending against the four truck drivers that attempted to illegally smuggle these individuals. On Tuesday, all four drivers will appear before a federal magistrate to be formally charged.

Quite simply, these were American truckers, driving American rigs trying to make a quick buck on someone else’s misery.

How do I know this? Well, the rigs in question, as of Sunday afternoon, are still sitting in impound at the mm28 interior check station on I-35. (Photos above)

With the security procedures in place at our commercial border crossings, it is virtually impossible to successfully smuggle anything, drugs or humans across without getting caught. This is proven time and again the length of the border.

Drugs and humans come across in 4 wheelers, some successful, others not. They are brought across the border on foot and stored in safe houses until enough is put together for a load and some stupid dumbass American trucker is found looking to make a quick score. And believe me, there are plenty of them out there.

Border walls, border fences, the militarization of the border will not stop this. Perhaps the next President will understand this, ignore the whining of the anti- anything to do with Mexico crowd and give us a sane, logical and workable solution.