- CLOUDCROFT, NM -- That they
were speeding through the school zone first got his attention.
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- That they had Israeli driver's licenses and expired passports
made him suspicious.
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- Cloudcroft Police Chief Gene Green stopped the 2-ton
van on Thursday, for speeding. Initially, Green thought the truck was commercial
because of exterior markings. But when he found it was out of Chicago,
he asked for documentation such as logs books and manifests.
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- "They said this is a U-Haul truck and handed me
a rental agreement (for) in-town delivery only in Illinois, (which) had
expired two days before," Green said.
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- He called for backup, and Otero County Sheriff's Deputy
Billy Anders, who patrols the Sacramento Mountains, arrived, along with
Capt. Norbert Sanchez and Det. Eddie Medrano.
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- "We got them out and started digging a little deeper,"
Green said, "got permission to search the truck. They claimed they
were hauling furniture from Austin to Chicago."
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- When officers advised the men they were not exactly en
route from one town to another, Green said the two men claimed they were
Deming bound.
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- "But they couldn't give us an address in Deming
they were going to," he said. "Once we got into the truck, they
had some junk furniture I wouldn't have given to Goodwill."
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- Also inside the vehicle were, Green said, "50 boxes"
they claimed was a "private" delivery, but the men insisted they
had no "idea what was in them."
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- At that point, the officers called for drug-sniffing
and bomb-sniffing dogs. The men were turned over to the Immigration and
Naturalization Service, and U-Haul recovered the truck. Contents of the
boxes remain unknown, pending investigation.
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