SEATTLE (AP) - A 21-year-old woman who moved to Seattle from Albuquerque three weeks ago to pursue her dream of becoming a chef has died of gunshot wounds suffered in an apparently random drive-by shooting. Nicole Westbrook died at a hospital yesterday. She was shot in the face early Sunday while walking home with her boyfriend. Marcia Westbrook described her sister as a beautiful Navajo woman who was just starting a new life.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Federal agents have arrested 28 suspects in New Mexico as part of a national roundup of gang members linked to drug and human trafficking. ICE officials say members and associates affiliated with the South Side Locos and Brown Pride gangs in Albuquerque, southern New Mexico and the Four Corners region are in federal custody. Authorities also seized drugs with a street value of close to $300,000.
COLUMBUS, N.M. (AP) - A 14-year-old from Mexico has been arrested after officers found nearly 15 pounds of marijuana is his school backpack at the port of entry in Columbus. Officials say 40 percent of the pot seizures at the Columbus port involved smugglers who are minors. The biggest seizure involved 483 pounds of pot found concealed in a vehicle driven by a 16-year-old Deming boy.
SUNLAND PARK, N.M. (AP) - Scandal in the New Mexico border town of Sunland Park is nothing new. But what is new is the harsh response: State and federal authorities are focusing on border town corruption as part of the larger effort to battle the influence of Mexican drug cartels. U.S. attorney for New Mexico Kenneth Gonzalez says the Sunland Park probe will more than likely lead to someone "abusing their position."
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