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MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE

West Valley bunker contained weapons, drugs, gold, silver

Posted 10/28/22

Two people have been arrested by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office after a search found weapons, drugs, gold and silver inside a bunker in Waddell, authorities said Friday.

MCSO …

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MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE

West Valley bunker contained weapons, drugs, gold, silver

Posted

Two people have been arrested by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office for theft, and a subsequent search found weapons, drugs, gold and silver inside a bunker in Waddell, authorities said Friday.

MCSO detectives served a search warrant Tuesday, Oct. 25, on the Hole in One RV, Boat & Toy Storage, 8601 N. 143rd Ave., Waddell, in connection with an Arizona Public Service investigation.

For more than a year, the owners of the property were suspected of supplying their business with stolen power from a nearby APS junction box, according to an MCSO release.

The owners, 61-year-old Laura Swink and her son, 35-year-old Steven Swink II, were taken into custody and booked into jail on felony theft of service charges, criminal damage and obtaining utilities fraudulently, MCSO officials said.

During the service of the warrant, officials said, a “large underground bunker was discovered on the property.

“The bunker consisted of several Conex and semi-truck boxes stacked together to construct a three-level building equipped with scissor jack elevators and tunnel ladder systems.”

According to the release, inside the bunker there appeared to be several chemical containers, bags of unknown powder and cylinders of compressed gases.

The MCSO’s Special Investigations Division were called to assist.

Illegal drugs and firearms “were seen in plain view,” MCSO officials said.

Items seized include:

  • 36 firearms.
  • 1 pound of methamphetamine.
  • 1 ounce of cocaine.
  • One-half ounce of psylocibin mushrooms.
  • 200 narcotic pill capsules.
  • $240,000.
  •  Gold and silver ($700,000 value).