Casa Grande

PHOENIX - An increase in smuggling violence at the Sonoran Desert National Monument about 80 miles south of Phoenix has prompted a stronger warning to visitors about drug and immigrant traffickers passing through the public lands, officials said Tuesday.

PHOENIX - Law officers backed by helicopters hunted gunmen in Arizona's desert early Saturday after a sheriff's deputy was wounded by suspected illegal immigrants believed to be smuggling marijuana, officials said.

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. - Authorities in southern Arizona were searching Friday for a wounded deputy who radioed for help and said he had been shot with an AK-47 assault rifle in a remote desert area used by drug- and human-smugglers from Mexico.