Seven charged with smuggling after 9 tons of pot are seized

November 25, 2011 | 7:04pm

Seven men from San Diego and Tijuana have been charged in U.S. federal court with drug smuggling after authorities discovered 9 tons of marijuana inside a tractor-trailer at the Otay Mesa border crossing, officials said Friday.

The estimated value of the marijuana was put at $13 million.

The discovery occurred Tuesday when an X-ray search showed the trailer packed with bricks of marijuana, officials said. Federal agents followed the truck to a junkyard on the U.S. side of the border where the seven suspects were arrested.

Five of the seven are listed as being from Tijuana, two from San Diego County.

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