A marijuana-smuggling ring operating in Cochise County was aided by a county employee who was paid to feed information to the smugglers, state and federal officials said Tuesday.
The arrest of 28-year-old Angelica Maria Borquez - who worked as a support staff employee for the Cochise County Attorney's Office - shows how bribery often associated with Mexican officials also occurs in the U.S., Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said.
"By no means are those of us that are north of the border immune to this," he said during a news conference at U.S. District Court downtown, where officials gathered to announce the results of a three-year multi-agency investigation into the smuggling ring. Officials say the group brought more than 40,000 pounds of marijuana into the U.S. from Mexico.
Borquez was one of 39 people indicted on state and federal charges stemming from Operation Vaqueros, a joint task force that included the U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Cochise County Sheriff's Office and local police from Bisbee, Douglas and Sierra Vista.
People are also reading…
The smuggling ring was affiliated with drug cartels operating out of the Mexican state of Sinaloa, said U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke.
The trafficking organization used sophisticated tactics to remain in operation, Burke said, including two-way radios and scanners, as well as the information it received from Borquez.
"They had a very good sense of where we were operating," he said.
Borquez, who was arrested Jan. 26 and indicted on nine counts of using wire or electronic communications to conduct drug transactions, is scheduled to go to trial June 8 in Cochise County Superior Court.
Six people named in the federal conspiracy indictment are scheduled to go to trial June 2; six others are still at large.
Contact reporter Brian J. Pedersen at bjp@azstarnet.com or call 573-4224.
