FALSE BUSINESS LOGOS ON SMUGGLERS' VEHICLES

U.S. Border Patrol agents are watching closely for vehicles falsely
decorated with business logos being used to sneak illegal entrants and
drugs into Southern Arizona.

Since April, there have been three cases of smugglers near Douglas "trying
to use legitimate businesses to disguise their illegal activities," said
Ryan Scudder, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman.

The latest incident was Thursday when an agent became suspicious of a
pickup truck with a QWest Communications logo driving back and forth near
milepost 389 along Arizona 80.

Scudder said a license plate check showed the vehicle, which had typical
telephone repair equipment as well as the logo, was not registered to
QWest, but instead to a Phoenix resident.

A short time later, agents picked up a group of 22 illegal entrants who
came to the roadway in that same area.

The driver, a 31-year-old man from Hermosillo, Sonora, admitted to being an
illegal entrant. Scudder would not release his name, but said the man
returned to Mexico after he gave agents a statement.

Scudder said the case remains under investigation. He said the driver was
not charged with smuggling because he didn't have illegal entrants in the
truck when he was stopped.

In April, an illegal entrant was caught driving a Chevy van marked as a
Federal Express vehicle. Scudder said a check on the license came back to a
resident in Phoenix.

And in June, a utility vehicle and a pickup truck falsely marked as city of
Douglas vehicles were used in a failed attempt to smuggle marijuana into
the United States. When the drivers realized agents were pursuing them,
Scudder said, they abandoned the trucks and ran back into Mexico. Both
cases remain under investigation, he said.