EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Three Arizona residents are facing migrant smuggling charges after Border Patrol agents stopped two vehicles in the Tohono O’odham reservation carrying eight migrants dressed in camouflage.

Border agents patrolling Federal Route 19 south of Sells, Ariz., noticed two vehicles traveling in tandem near the border last Sunday, with a Ford Explorer apparently carrying too much weight and swerving occasionally over the center lane. A Border Patrol agent placed his patrol unit between the two vehicles and conducted a stop after noticing the lead car, a Hyundai Veloster, didn’t have license plates, court records show.

The agent allegedly found three migrants inside dressed in fatigues and detained driver Edward Raymond Rodriguez, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen.

A second agent stopped the Explorer and found it was transporting five Mexican and Guatemalan nationals in the back seat and cargo area, records show.

The vehicle was registered in Tempe, Arizona, to Austin Mitchell Arbo, who rode in the front passenger seat of the Explorer. Authorities identified the driver as Ashley Parkerson, 30, also an Arizona resident.

According to a federal complaint affidavit filed last Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, Parkerson told Border Patrol agents she was aware of transporting unauthorized migrants. “I knew I would get caught. I knew this was not a good idea,” she allegedly told the agents.

In addition to the migrants, agents allegedly found a loaded .32-caliber Colt 1903 pistol inside a woman’s purse in the Explorer, and an unloaded 9mm Hi-Point gun hidden in the center console. A further check revealed a glass pipe and three clear plastic bags with crystal methamphetamine in them, records show.

Some of the migrants being held as material witnesses in the case described to authorities how they communicated with the English speakers despite a language barrier.

Pascual Diaz Diaz, a citizen of Mexico, said he and two women whom smugglers helped cross the border barrier were told to walk 20-30 minutes to a paved road, where a male driver of a blue car just said, “Phoenix?”

Belen Vargas Ramirez, also of Mexico, said she saw the occupant of a dark-colored SUV use his hands to motion “hurry up!” and then motion for her and others to “get down!”

Material witness Harrison Quib-Xol, of Guatemala, told border agents he could hear the man and the woman in the driver and front passenger seat talking but is unable to understand English.

Arbo, Parkerson and Rodriguez are facing charges of conspiracy and transportation of illegal aliens for profit. The three U.S. citizens are scheduled to make their initial appearance in a federal courtroom in Tucson, Ariz., on April 16.

Arizona remains the nation’s hotspot for illegal immigration, with more than 300,000 migrant encounters since Oct. 1 just in the Tucson Sector that includes the eastern portion of the state and the border cities of Nogales, Douglas and Naco.