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Border Patrol campaign targets drug and people smuggling operations

A Customs and Border Protection initiative targeting drug and people smuggling operations is coming to Arizona. 

CBP says the campaign, called Se Busca Información — or Seeking Information — is a joint effort between the Border Patrol and the Government of Mexico that "identifies individuals associated with transnational criminal organizations" wanted for crimes associated with people and drug smuggling on both sides of the border.

The new Arizona campaign says it’s looking for information on five people wanted by the Border Patrol in the agency's Yuma and Tucson sectors.

The agency says the faces of those five people are printed on posters, flyers and billboards in places like city streets, immigration checkpoints and ports of entry in both countries. Their names were not disclosed.

In a press release, the agency says people can confidentially call in with information. U.S Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said the campaign was "a call to action to continue battling these illicit networks who plague known regions of transit in our communities and are responsible for far too many deaths, including innocent children.”

A CBP spokesperson declined to provide further details about the five individuals or how they were identified.

Alisa Reznick is a senior field correspondent covering stories across southern Arizona and the borderlands for the Tucson bureau of KJZZ's Fronteras Desk.