ARIZONA: Two men have been arrested in Arizona after a dramatic police chase that reached speeds of 100 miles per hour and saw at least 15 bales of illegal marijuana tossed out a window.
A marijuana plant stands amid a plantation discovered near San Quintin in Baja California state in Mexico, July 15, 2011. The RCMP and the Canadian military have spent nearly $11.5 million in the last eight years on a national search-and-destroy mission for illicit marijuana crops. The record pot bust 15 tons of marijuana seized at US-Mexico border
After the arrest of nine individuals from a separate pursuit early Wednesday morning, authorities learned of a second vehicle possibly carrying a big pay-day. Six hours later, a Pinal County Sheriff officer’s attention was drawn to a speeding white 2006 Chevy Trailblazer.
The second chase began on Interstate-8 in Casa Grande and quickly merged onto Interstate-10 at speeds close to 100 mph. In a dashcam video released by authorities, at least 15 bales of marijuana were thrown out of the vehicle in an attempt to hinder the pursuit. However, the officer was able to avoid each parcel.
Exiting the highway, the suspects led police through the campus of Central Arizona College before spike strips flattened their front tires. Forty-three-year-old Mario Perez-Paz, from Mexico, and 21-year-old Juan Aguilar-Zaval eventually jumped out of their vehicle and led deputies on a short foot chase before being taken into custody.
The pair claimed that a woman in Phoenix offered them $1,000 to pick up the packages.
“These foreign drug smugglers try to outrun our deputies and even throw bales of marijuana from their vehicle,” Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu stated. “We caught these criminals who put our deputies and our local citizens in harm’s way and now they will go to prison for their crimes.”
Approximately 374 pounds of cannabis was recovered and entered into evidence. Officials claim that four or five of the packages thrown on to the road were picked up by other, unrelated, vehicles and have not been seen since.
The smuggling of large quantities of marijuana through Arizona seems to be common this year. In January, 22 people were arrested in connection with the recovery of 347 pounds of pot.
