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Arizona's border with Mexico makes it a top smuggling route for illegal goods, including cigarettes, which cost the state more than $140 million in tax revenue each year.

Arizona is among the worst states for smuggling of illegal goods, along with California, Texas, Florida and eight others being targeted by a new nationwide initiative from Phillip Morris – United to Safeguard America From Illegal Trade. Read more»

A Navajo County Sheriff’s Office deputy makes a traffic stop near Holbrook, Arizona, on Nov. 22, 2016, in an effort to find and seize drugs along Interstate 40. Navajo County uses forfeiture money to partially fund the salaries of its drug task force.

Under a landmark bill reforming Arizona’s civil asset forfeiture laws signed by Gov. Doug Ducey, prosecutors and law enforcement agencies will no longer be permitted to permanently seize people’s property for alleged criminal wrongdoing without actually convicting them of a crime. Read more»

Three Mexican nationals were taken into custody after they were found hiding in the trunk of a car at the I-19 checkpoint on Sunday. The driver, a U.S. citizen, was arrested.

Six U.S. citizens were arrested for attempting to smuggle several Mexican men and 122 pounds of marijuana through Southern Arizona Border Patrol checkpoints last week. Read more»

A man was recently arrested in Mexico for smuggling human skulls and as of yet unspecified human body parts inside teddy bears. Read more»

Colombian police confiscating Venezuelan sides of beef.

A look at what lies behind Venezuela’s food shortages. Read more»

South America's cocaine giant is also the best at fabricating phony dollar bills. The US Secret Service is working with Peruvian police to stop it. Read more»

The Predator drone used in Afghanistan soon could be monitoring activity along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Mayors of cities along the Texas-Mexico border intent on protecting the images of their communities are drawing vastly different conclusions about a proposal that would bring in equipment from overseas war zones to bolster border security efforts. Read more» 2

A roundup of news coverage from the Mexican side of the border: The Drug Enforcement Administration reports it is making headway in the war on drugs in Mexico. Another report shows that cartel operations are constantly evolving with the Sinaloa and Zetas cartels at the center of the action. Read more»

A 49-year-old Mexican man was sentenced to two years in prison Friday for attempting to smuggle more than $1.1 million from the United States into Mexico. Read more»

The U.S.-Mexico border in San Luis, Ariz., in 2008.

A government report finds the U.S. has been too slow to aid Mexico and other crime-ridden countries at a time when drug-related violence is escalating. Efforts to combat alien smuggling have also fallen short, but Arizona earns praise for dismantling smuggling operations. Read more»

A new Tucson-based Border Crime Prosecution team will investigate and prosecute the smuggling of weapons, humans, drugs and money across the border by the Mexican cartels. Read more»

Speaking to a joint session of Congress, Mexican President Felipe Calderón explained his opposition to Arizona's SB 1070, saying that illegal immigration "ignores a reality that cannot be erased by decree." Read more»

In desperate times, the perilous smuggler's tunnels between Gaza and Egypt become lifelines. Read more»

2000 file photo.

The big question for both the United States and Mexico is whether or not to continue with a heavily militarized approach in the fight against drug traffickers. With Secretary of State Clinton's announcement Tuesday, the Obama administration seems to be voting no. Read more»

A car is searched at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Lawmakers from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border were in Mexico City last week discussing plans to combat growing border drug violence (Audio report). Read more»

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