Maps to safeguard migrants might endanger them
BY PAIGE LAUREN DEINER, SUN STAFF WRITER

A plan to give illegal aliens maps to keep them alive in the deserts of Yuma County and Arizona could do the opposite, say Yuma's Mexican consul and the organizer of a local border watch group.

Consul Hugo Oliva said the maps the National Human Rights Commission plans to distribute may actually steer aliens and smugglers away from desert water tanks for fear of being caught by the Border Patrol.

Meanwhile, Flash Sharrar, head of the Yuma Patriots border-watch organization, says if bandits get the maps, they will know where to go to rob illegal immigrants.

The commission, a Mexican government-funded agency with independent powers, said Tuesday the purpose of the maps was to help to curb the death toll among illegal border crossers.

They said they plan to distribute 70,000 of these maps in border towns.

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Yuman, Mexican cop indicted in gun smuggling
BY JEFFREY GAUTREAUX, SUN STAFF WRITER

A Mexican police officer and a Yuma man have been federally indicted for allegedly attempting to cross the border with three weapons purchased at a Yuma gun show.

Omar Ignacio Alvarez, 20, of Yuma assisted Pedro Rios-Perez, 41, an officer for the Baja California State Police, in buying two handguns and an assault rifle Jan. 7 at a gun show at the Yuma County Fairgrounds, according to the indictment and a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix. The two allegedly attempted to drive the guns into Mexico in a police vehicle.

The arrests are part of an overall increase in enforcement by the federal government in cooperation with local agencies to curb weapons trafficking in this area, according to Tom Mangan, special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

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Border tunnel's U.S. exit found

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN DIEGO — Authorities on Wednesday located the U.S. exit to a long cross-border tunnel that began near the Tijuana, Mexico, airport and was apparently used for smuggling people or drugs, a U.S. official said Wednesday night.

The discovery of the exit prompted a criminal probe by the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Mack declined to provide the location of the exit and would only describe the passageway as longer than most of the 21 cross-border tunnels discovered since authorities began keeping track after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

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Two tons of pot found inside Mexico-U.S. border tunnel
By Onell R. Soto and Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS

Investigators discovered a sophisticated cross-border tunnel yesterday extending about a half-mile and found about 2 tons of marijuana on the Mexican end.

The tunnel begins about 85 feet below a small warehouse about 175 yards south of the U.S. border. The other end is in an apparently vacant industrial building in Otay Mesa.

Late last night, authorities were still pulling marijuana out of the tunnel, which is outfitted with electricity and a ventilation system. The building is in an industrial neighborhood near Tijuana's airport.