$250,000 worth of drugs, $12,000 cash seized at checkpoint
Comments 6
June 21, 2010 5:01 PM
BY JAMES GILBERT - SUN STAFF WRITER

U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Yuma sector arrested three suspected smugglers and seized more than a quarter million dollars worth of narcotics and $12,000 cash in two unrelated incidents last week.

Agent Shaun Kuzia, a spokesman for the Yuma sector, said at about 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, a white tractor-trailer pulled into the Highway 78 checkpoint near Palo Verde, Calif.

Kuzia said a Border Patrol canine team alerted to the semi, indicating the likely presence of narcotics or people hidden inside. Agents then referred the tractor-trailer for secondary inspection, where they found 112 plastic-wrapped bundles of marijuana hidden beneath the sleeper bed in the cab of the truck.

The driver, a 54-year-old U.S. citizen, was arrested. The packages of marijuana weighed a combined 322 pounds with an estimated street value of $257,600. The driver, semi and narcotics were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

According to Kuzia, marijuana seizures in the sector are down 45 percent, compared to this time last fiscal year. Last fiscal year the Border Patrol seized 44,175 pounds of marijuana, compared to 30,498 pounds this year.

The 30,498 pounds of marijuana seized so far this year have an estimated street value of more than $24 million.

In another seizure, just after midnight on Friday, a Border Patrol canine team alerted to a 2005 Jeep Laredo that had also driven into the same checkpoint. Blythe Station Border Patrol agents referred the vehicle for secondary inspection where they found a plastic bag filled with cocaine and $12,000 cash hidden behind the radio.

“Our cocaine and methamphetamine seizures don't typically take place at the border, they are generally seized at checkpoints,â€