Abandoned truck yields 2,500+ pounds of pot

http://www.azstarnet.com:80/sn/border/203310
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.27.2007

U.S. Border Patrol agents found more than 2,500 pounds of marijuana in an abandoned truck near Arivaca on Tuesday.

The incident began when a Border Patrol agent observed a truck traveling north on a road near Arivaca without working taillights, according to a news release from the Border Patrol.

The agent attempted to follow the truck to get a closer look, but the driver, after realizing that he was being followed by a Border Patrol agent, accelerated away.

With the assistance of other agents, the Border Patrol later found the truck abandoned in a nearby field. It had crashed through a fence. Inside the truck, agents found 113 bundles of marijuana, weighing 2,503 pounds, with an estimated value of $1.439 million, according to figures from the National Drug Intelligence Center.

The truck was reported stolen in Phoenix and turned over to the Tucson Police Department. The drugs were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

From Oct. 1 to Aug. 31, agents in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector had seized 844,972 pounds of marijuana, a 40 percent increase from the previous year.

â—