Politics & Government

Smuggler Who Operated On Tohono O’odham Reservation Sentenced

Arturo Tellez-Berrelleza was the last of 18 members of a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization to be sentenced in federal court.

PHOENIX – The last of 18 members of a Mexican drug organization who smuggled marijuana through the Tohono O'odham Reservation will spend the next 21 months in prison. Arturo Tellez-Berrelleza, 32, had pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.

He was part of an organization that relied on so-called “scouts" – people who remain on high ground for extended periods of time in order to guide marijuana backpacking groups past law enforcement – and “resuppliers,” who are responsible for providing scouts with food, water, binoculars, cellphones, camping equipment, cold and hot weather clothing, and communications equipment

"Our office is committed to prosecuting transnational criminal organizations that seek to smuggle drugs through Arizona," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth A. Strange said. "Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Border Patrol deserve particular commendation for their painstaking efforts to apprehend the smugglers who were brought to justice during this investigation."

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Officials seized about 12,500 pounds of marijuana over the course of the three-year investigation.

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