Hourly Update

Arizona car lot employees accused of aiding smugglers

PHOENIX - Twenty-one employees of used car lots were indicted on charges they helped sell vehicles to smugglers who sneak illegal immigrants into Arizona from Mexico, prosecutors said Monday. Authorities said the used car dealers put false names on car titles and created fake liens so that cars seized near the border would revert back to dealers. The scheme is a sign of the creativity of migrant smugglers, said prosecutors from the Arizona attorney general's office. Previously, smugglers often stole vehicles for their operations. Eleven Arizona car lots have been seized as part of the alleged scheme.