A 33-year-old Caborca, Sonora, resident has been sentenced to seven years in federal prison for possessing firearms in connection with a drug-trafficking organization.
Flavio Diaz-Pina was sentenced last week by U.S. District Judge Jennifer G. Zipps.
Twenty other people have also been sentenced to a combined total of about 26 years in federal prison for their roles in the drug-trafficking organization, according to a press rlease from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona.
In October 2011, federal agents learned that backpacks with marijuana were being trafficked from a residence in Cockleburr, a small village in the northern part of the Tohono O’odham Nation, south of Interstate 8.
When agents went to the residence they found Diaz-Pina, who ran the organization. They recovered several firearms, ammunition, money, cell phones, police scanners and night-vision goggles at the house, the press release said.
The backpacks were being brought from Mexico to Cockleburr, where the marijuana was then shipped to Tucson and Phoenix. Agents also arrested 16 people found at a nearby trailer house on suspicion of carrying the drugs in the backpacks.
In addition to Diaz-Pina’s conviction, one other person was convicted of transporting marijuana, the 16 people who carried the backpacks of marijuana were also convicted of drug trafficking, and two members of the Tohono O’odham tribe were convicted of conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens.
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