UPDATE: Maricopa man arrested in counterfeit airbags case

A Maricopa man living in the Maricopa Meadows subdivision was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of making counterfeit vehicle airbags.

Dwight Smith, 58, was booked into Maricopa County Jail on charges of counterfeit marks and manufacturing counterfeit airbags and components, according to a Phoenix police press release.

He was arrested in a joint task force involving the Phoenix Police Department and ICE Homeland Security Investigations. 

The investigation is ongoing. 

Maricopa police also assisted with today’s law enforcement activities.The city’s police pulled Smith over in a traffic stop after they were given a description of his vehicle and his plate number. The traffic stop took place not far from his residence where a search warrant was served, near the intersection of Hogenes Boulevard and McDavid Road.

"He stopped without incident," said Ricky Alvarado, a spokesman for the Maricopa Police Department. 

HSI agents and Phoenix police served the state search warrant at Smith’s home on the 46000 block of Rainbow Drive, according to the release. They found airbags and igniting components used to inflate airbags.

A Phoenix Police Department bomb squad detonated several dozen small initiator components as a safety precaution, the release stated.

“Within the past three months detectives and agents were able to verify that Smith was selling counterfeit airbags to citizens and placing them in the citizens’ vehicles,” the release stated.

Police and HSI special agents found more than 40 counterfeit airbags, and the release states that most of the airbags would not have worked had they been installed in vehicles.

“Only vehicle manufacturers and their agents can legally install an airbag into any vehicle,” the release states. “Counterfeit airbags have chemicals that might pose a series health hazard, covers which may not open properly and could become projectiles at deployment, or they may not deploy at all in a time of emergency.”

HSI and Phoenix police are still working on tracking down where and to whom Smith sold the airbags.

Police are requesting people who feel their airbag was counterfeit or not properly stalled to have a valid dealership check their vehicle.

According to the agency's website, ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agents handle immigration crime, human rights violations and the smuggling of people and goods, among other cases. 

Original story: 

Special agents from ICE Homeland Security Investigations served a search warrant at a residence in the Maricopa Meadows subdivision Wednesday as part of an ongoing investigation involving the production of counterfeit airbag for vehicles.

The Phoenix Police Department and Maricopa Police Department assisted the agency.

One man was arrested following a traffic stop by Maricopa police.  

According to the agency's website, ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agents handle immigration crime, human rights violations and the smuggling of people and goods, among other cases. 

Amber Cargile, a spokeswoman for ICE, could not give many details about the case because it is an ongoing investigation. 

The warrant was served at a residence on the 46000 block of Rainbow Drive.

Maricopa Police Department spokesman Ricky Alvarado said a Phoenix police SWAT team made entry into the house and that other people in the neighborhood were not in danger, as it was not considered a "high-risk entry." Cargile said a Phoenix police bomb squad unit was also on scene as a precaution related to the materials used in the production of counterfeit airbags. 

A spokesman for Phoenix police was not immediately available. 

Alvarado said Maricopa police were given a vehicle description and plate number of the man involved in the case. The man was stopped by police near Hogenes Boulevard and McDavid Road – not far from the residence. 

"He stopped without incident," Alvarado said. 

There was no one else in the vehicle. 

Cargile said there are not a lot of cases involving counterfeit airbags in Arizona, but the agency has investigated cases in other areas.