Crime Log: GV resident reports drug smugglers

Early Wednesday morning, a Green Valley resident witnessed several suspicious men loading drugs into vehicles that were parked near his home, Pima County Sheriff’s reports said.

Between 5:30 and 6 a.m., the witness reported seeing eight or nine men walking in and out of a wash area, loading square bundles taken from the wash into two pickup trucks. The wash is located near a neighborhood in the 2500 block of South Calle Cervantes, just south of the Desert Hills Golf Course, reports said.

Another vehicle, a silver sedan with a spoiler, was also parked in the area.

The suspects were dressed in all black and two of the men were carrying what appeared to be assault rifles, the witness reported. He then saw the men leave in their vehicles, driving northbound along Camino Del Sol.

Several minutes after the witness called the Sheriff’s Department, officers stopped a truck matching the description of the one given on the northbound Interstate 19, just south of Papago Road. When the officer approached, the occupants of the truck bailed out and ran east into the desert, reports said.

Two bales of marijuana of an unknown value were discovered in the bed of the truck.

The second of the trucks believed to be associated with drug smuggling was not found.

Border Patrol agents looking for evidence in the Green Valley wash discovered several burlap sacks, which are commonly used my smugglers for storing marijuana bundles.

A Green Valley man was arrested Tuesday night for possession of cocaine, according to Pima County Sheriff’s reports.

David Winner, 48, was stopped by officers around 10 p.m. on Sahuarita Road, just east of Nogales Highway, for driving over the speed limit.

Officers discovered Winner was driving on a suspended license, and when searching his vehicle, found four grams of cocaine in individually-packed baggies inside a cigarette box, reports said.

Officers also found a marijuana cigarette inside the vehicle.

Winner was charged with Possession of Cocaine For Sale, cited for Driving on a Suspended License and booked into Pima County Adult Detention Center.

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