Task force finds 1,550 lbs. pot

Members of the West Desert Task Force and Pinal County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit located a 2000 Chevy Suburban Wednesday containing 1,550 pounds of marijuana with a street value of nearly $1.2 million south of Interstate-8 near Stanfield Road.

The vehicle was covered with a tarp and hidden with brush. No suspects were located near the vehicle.

The task force is a joint initiative between U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and PCSO to combat narcotics trafficking in the west desert region of Arizona. The task force is supported by the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and works in association with the Alliance to Combat Transnational Threats and its participating agencies.

“Cooperation with our local ICE Homeland Security Investigations and Border Patrol agents is key to all of our efforts to combat drug and human smuggling. No agency can make this happen alone,” Sheriff Paul Babeu said. “During the past several years, the problem hasn’t slowed down, the border is not fully secure and the drug cartels from Mexico continue to rebuild even after they are met with the heavy hands of enforcement.”