The Arizona Commercial Vehicle Safety Partnership (ACVSP) will conduct its annual “Operation Southern Shield” from Monday, Feb. 19, 2024, through Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, on Interstate 10 from Phoenix to the New Mexico state line, and on Interstate 19 from Tucson to the international border.

The ACVSP comprises AZDPS Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Bureau troopers and Arizona Department of Transportation Enforcement and Compliance Division officers.

During this year’s operation, more than 80 commercial vehicle enforcement inspectors from the ACVSP, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the Tucson Police Department, and the Marana Police Department are committed to reducing the risk of commercial vehicle-involved collisions. Enforcement efforts will be conducted along Interstate 10 and Interstate 19 with special emphasis placed on motor carrier safety regulations, including driver qualification, hours of service, and overall safe operations.

Inspectors and enforcement officers will target hazardous moving violations, distracted driving, and seatbelt violations while conducting commercial vehicle inspections to ensure commercial drivers and vehicles comply with commercial vehicle regulations and state laws. Non-commercial vehicles that are operating unsafely around commercial vehicles will also be stopped.

The mission of the Arizona Commercial Vehicle Safety Partnership is to ensure safe, secure, and efficient commercial transport across Arizona.

On Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) Vehicle Theft Task Force (VTTF) detectives arrested two suspects on multiple felony charges after seven stolen vehicles, methamphetamine, and multiple firearms were located at an automotive business in Mesa. Detectives also located two human skulls on the property.

Detectives served a search warrant at Meadows Auto near 1st Avenue and Country Club Drive on Feb. 8 after investigators discovered stolen vehicles on the property during a business inspection. The stolen vehicles included a 2008 Ford pickup truck, a 2016 Arctic Cat, a Clark forklift, and four trailers.

Approximately two pounds of methamphetamine, two rifles, one sawed-off shotgun, and two human skulls were also found on the property. The skulls were turned over to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office for further investigation.

Property owner Eddie Meadows, 45, was booked into the Maricopa County Jail on multiple charges including theft of means of transportation, possession of a weapon by a prohibited possessor, and possession of a dangerous drug.

Tara Montgomery, 40, was also booked into jail on numerous drug-related charges.

Funded by the Arizona Automobile Theft Authority, the VTTF is administered and led by AZDPS. The VTTF is a statewide resource comprised of multiple law enforcement partners working in a coordinated effort to leverage human and capital resources to disrupt, dismantle, apprehend, and prosecute individuals and criminal organizations that profit from the theft of motor vehicle related crimes.

On Tuesday, January 23, 2024, Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) troopers seized more than 200 pounds of fentanyl valued at over one million dollars following a traffic stop in southern Arizona.

At around 5 p.m. on Tuesday, AZDPS troopers stopped the driver of a commercial vehicle on westbound Interstate 10 in the Eloy area for a civil traffic violation. During the stop, troopers and U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agents discovered more than 200 pounds of fentanyl concealed in duffel bags inside the truck. The suspect driver was arrested on felony drug-related charges. Further investigation revealed the drugs were bound for the Phoenix area.

This incident marks the third significant fentanyl seizure by state troopers in southern Arizona in six days. On Thursday, January 18, troopers seized approximately 148 pounds of fentanyl bound for Phoenix following two traffic stops in the Wellton and Tucson areas.

AZDPS would like to thank our partners at USBP for their assistance with this investigation.

Within a one-hour period in southern Arizona on Thursday, January 18, 2024, Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) troopers seized a total of approximately 459 pounds of methamphetamine, 148 pounds of fentanyl pills, and 2.55 pounds of cocaine in three separate traffic stops. A total of six suspects were arrested on felony drug-related charges.

Further investigation revealed the drugs were being transported from southern Arizona to Phoenix. The estimated street value of the drugs seized is approximately $1,285,000.

AZDPS would like to thank our partners at the office of Homeland Security Investigations for their assistance in this investigation.