Truck Driver Held While his Trailer was Loaded w Drugs

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Riodoce

                           Truck Driver alleges kidnapping and threats to bring drugs to the US

The long haul trucker owns the  truck and for 23 years he has had a US visa to deliver commercial goods and has regularly entered the country.

By: Alejandro Monjardín

The cartels have developed novel methods to pass drugs to the United States: from hiding it in the bodies of people, to packages that simulate fruits, tamales or cakes and even in drones.

They have also used blind mules, those people who hide the drug in their vehicle without realizing it, but there are also those who claim that they were kidnapped and threatened with death to carry a shipment.

One of them is Sinaloan Enrique "V", who says he was kidnapped and held for several hours and then released and returned his trailer in which he had chiles.The defendant alleges that he was threatened to carry the load.

According to his defense, the kidnappers told him to continue his way to the United States and that everything was already arranged so that he would cross the border with more than 6 tons of marijuana, but in the secondary  inspection in the Customs Facility he was arrested.

He is accused of conspiracy to possess marijuana with the intention of distributing and possessing marijuana with the intention of distributing and conspiracy to import marijuana and import marijuana and into prison.

According to the documents of the Arizona Court, in May Enrique left Los Mochis with a shipment of chilies.

After leaving Los Mochis, he made several stops at toll booths and a checkpoint, where the peppers were unloaded and subjected to drug detection dogs, according to his defense.

One night before the arrest he left the road to check the platform, in Magdalena, Sonora; and two vehicles stopped and armed men descended, who raised him by force in one of the cars.

According to his version, they placed him face down on the floor of the vehicle and the men told him they needed his truck and if he did not agree to do what they wanted, they would kill him.

One of the men took the truck and the others stayed with him and removed his wallet and cell phone.

Hours later they returned the truck and told him to follow his route as usual and if he said something they would kill him. He also assures that he was told that if he did not follow the orders, they would kill his family.

He stated that they did not tell him what they had done with the truck, but he assumed that they had put drugs for him to cross into the United States.

When he took the truck and went on his way, he believed that a vehicle of the kidnappers was following him.

While in Mexico, he stopped at a truck stop for a few hours and at some point, he slept in the truck.

Later, he received a "green light" at Mexican customs in Nogales, so his truck was not inspected.

The defendant did not say anything in Mexican customs about what had happened because he believed that someone could have been watching.

Upon entering the Port of Entry Mariposa also said nothing about the kidnapping and his suspicion that they had placed drugs in his truck, for fear that the criminal groups had people in the customs who could inform them. It was there the driver was taken to secondary check and that's where they found the drug hidden among the chiles.

In total they located 6, 230 kilos of marijuana hidden between the pallets of chiles.

The defense will present the testimony of a psychologist who evaluated the accused and diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress.

The expert will explain the symptoms of the defendant and how the disorder may have affected him from the point where his captors released him until he arrived at the port of entry in the United States and during the subsequent interview.

The psychologist notes that the driver suffered post-traumatic stress after the kidnapping, since in 2015 he was shot and wounded when he was in the middle of a shooting.

The driver was driving  the truck in Magdalena, Sonora, when a shootout broke out between criminal groups and while he was trying to escape, he was shot in the back.

The lawyer presented a police report of that shooting to affirm that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress and it was made worse by the kidnapping, which made it difficult for him to participate in the decision-making process for fear of reprisals  and to give notice to the authorities.

According to the report, the long haul trucker owns a truck and for 23 years he has had a US visa to deliver commercial goods and has regularly entered the country.

The prosecution tried to prevent the defense from presenting the testimony, but the judge admitted it for trial.