East Arizona, Part 12
After some hours, the coyote will then periodically traverse
the roadway adjacent to the rest spot and look for sign.
A favorite food of smugglers and the smuggled is Church's Chicken.
This specific chicken restaurant in Sierra Vista, Arizona, is
the source of their favorite repast.
When the illegal alien herd arrives and restores themselves with
the food and water they will then look for the coyote. He will
drive past and signal and then return with the vehicle pointing
northward and the illegal aliens will race toward the vehicle
in groups of even ten. They have been told to drop everything
that might encumber them -- back packs, extra clothing -- so that
more of them can be squeezed into the vehicle.
In the case of drug smugglers, the contraband is sometimes loaded
onto the shoulders of human mules and transported across the border
to rendezvous points -- even half way houses or drop houses --
where the drugs can then be hidden in innocuous vehicles and transported
to Tucson and Phoenix.
The recent changes to air transport security have made the transport
of drugs by commercial aircraft more difficult.
Huge loads of drugs are taken north across the border in caravans
of Toyota pickup trucks with drug smugglers holding huge tarps
above the vehicles. The tarps are held several feet in the air
and create shadows over the vehicles. The Toyotas and their drug
loads are supposed to now be hidden from the view of surveillance
aircraft and satellites. This is one popular method for the transport
of drugs through the Arizona Indian reservations.
To stop this trafficking, many parts of the border have had six
inch diameter surplus oil drilling pipe pounded into the ground
every four feet for hundreds of miles. This drill pipe is quite
difficult to cut and even if one pipe has been cut the chances
of actually squeezing a vehicle through the widened space is chancy.
The Indian reservations also face a thousand vehicles a year
being used by independent operators to smuggle somewhat smaller
loads of drugs. The vehicles are usually stolen in Phoenix or
Tucson and then driven south into Mexico where they are loaded
with drugs and then driven north into the Indian country. The
drug loads are then transferred to other vehicles and the original
vehicle is burned to destroy all evidence. Yes, the Indian reservations
have over 1,000 burned vehicles scattered over their lands each
year.
As night falls on Tombstone, scores of isolated ranches face
another night of terror and no help from our "homeland security."
