TUCSON, Ariz. – Willcox Border Patrol agents working at the State Route 80 Immigration Checkpoint arrested four United States citizens and four Mexican nationals during two disrupted smuggling incidents near Tombstone in the last 48 hours.
Wednesday evening, Canine Unit agents working the primary inspection lane referred a Texas man and an Arizona woman for a secondary inspection of their Toyota Corolla after a service dog alerted to an odor it was trained to detect coming from the vehicle.
When agents searched the vehicle, they found two adult Mexican nationals attempting to avoid detection – one in the vehicle’s trunk and the other laying in the rear passenger compartment floorboard. Agents identified both individuals as previously deported illegal aliens.
Early Friday, agents at the same immigration checkpoint referred two Arizona men in a Pontiac G6 for a secondary inspection and discovered two more previously-deported adult Mexican nationals in the vehicle’s trunk.
The U.S. citizens involved will remain in custody pending a disposition on federal charges for human smuggling. The four Mexican nationals will be presented for immigration violation proceedings.