Indian team tracks load of 3.5 tons of pot

ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Photo by Scott S. Warren

An elite group of American Indian drug trackers appear to be comfortable in their new assignment working Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Less than three months since the Shadow Wolves were reassigned to ICE from the U.S. Border Patrol, agents found 3 1/2 tons of marijuana on the northern part of the Tohono O'odham Nation, said Lauren Mack, ICE spokeswoman.

Last Friday at about 5 a.m., the Shadow Wolves trackers began following the tire tracks of several pickup trucks on a back road near Ventana village on the reservation, Mack said. They followed the tracks off the dirt roads and onto to Federal Route 42, where at about 11 a.m. the agents found three pickup trucks covered in camouflage tarp out of view, she said.

The 7,200 pounds of marijuana they found inside the trucks has an estimated street value of $3.6 million, using figures from the Arizona High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, the federal anti-drug analysis and intelligence center.