Twenty-one owners or managers at 11 Phoesnix used-car dealerships have been indicted by a state grand jury involving  a scheme to keep smugglers supplied with vehicles to transport undocumented immigrants and drugs from the U.S.-Mexican border.  Authorities said smugglers would pay cash for cars at the dealerships.  Dealers then would put false names on vehicle titles and create fake liens.  If the care was later seized near the border, it would revert to the dealer because of the lien, rather than be seized by the state.  Once the cars had been retrieved, the car dealers would turn the vehicles back over to the smugglers and receive a “recovery fee.”

In the past, smuggling rings relied on stolen or rented vehicles to transport undocumented immigrants but switched methods when law enforcement authorities began impounding vehicles used for smuggling.  The 21 people indicted face felony charges ranging from conspiracy and fraud to money laundering and participation in a criminal syndicate.  Four other defendants were arrested on felony charges of possession of cocaine for sale.  The defendants are in custody or have been released on bond, according to authorities.