Deputy discovers vehicle loaded with ammunition

Law enforcement officers found 4,550 rounds of .38 caliber handgun ammunition Saturday in an abandoned vehicle.

A Pinal County deputy was patrolling the I-8 corridor about 9:15 p.m. on Saturday when he observed a vehicle traveling southbound on Stanfield Road from Highway 84 leaving the town of Stanfield. He checked the vehicle's registration using the computer in his vehicle and discovered it had been reported stolen to the Phoenix Police Department on Dec. 7.

The deputy initiated a traffic stop and the driver immediately left the roadway and began to drive through the desert in a northwesterly direction for about a mile. Officers from the Gila River Indian Community police department and the Bureau of Land Management responded and assisted the deputy with tracking the vehicle.

It was located abandoned in the desert.

Sheriff Paul Babeu said deputies suspect the stolen vehicle was being used as a southbound re-supply load vehicle transporting ammunition intended for unlawful use or smuggling.

“38 Super ammunition is very popular in Mexico where it’s the most powerful pistol cartridge available to civilians,” Babeu said.