A group of men from Mexico who tried to trek through rough Texas mountains with bundles of drugs are facing lengthy prison sentences after receiving a conviction on federal drug trafficking charges.
A federal court jury in Pecos, Texas, convicted 26-year-old Jose Manuel Ayala for drug smuggling. He is the last of a group of seven defendants caught by federal authorities trying to carry ten bundles of marijuana from Mexico into Texas, information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed. The official charges are one count of importation of marijuana and one count of possession with intent to distribute. Court documents do not identify the drug cartel that the men were working for. However, the area is commonly used by the Sinaloa Cartel or the Juarez Cartel.
Ayala was the only member of a smuggling group that tried to fight the charges in court. He but ultimately lost. The group consisted of nine males and included two underage teens who were not federally charged. The other six defendants previously pleaded guilty to the charges and are expected to be sentenced in November. A date for Ayala’s sentencing hearing has not been set. He faces a prison sentence of up to 40 years for each of the two charges.
The case began in June 2022, when a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter spotted footprints leading to a group of migrants that were walking along the High Lonesome Mountains in Texas. The group is believed to have crossed from Mexico through the mountain pass. The DPS pilot alerted U.S. Border Patrol agents in Van Horn who moved to the area and began tracking the group. Authorities found the nine drug mules who were trying to hide in the brush. Once they detained the group, authorities followed their tracks and found ten burlap sacks with drugs approximately 250 feet away. The drugs had an estimated weight of 603 pounds.
Luisana Moreno is a contributing writer for Breitbart Texas.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.