Thread: AZ-Border Patrol agents make huge pot bust

Border Patrol agents make huge pot bust

April 28, 2008 - 11:40AM
FROM STAFF REPORTS



LOANED PHOTO/U.S. BORDER PATROL This truck was packed with wrapped bundles of marijuana.

A patch of sand thwarted a drug-smuggling attempt near Tacna and enabled Border Patrol agents to make one of their largest marijuana seizures in recent memory Sunday night.

Agents ended up recovering 79 bundles of marijuana weighing a total of 1,518 pounds, worth more than $1.2 million on the street, the patrol said in a news release. Two suspected smugglers were taken into custody.

Michael Bernacke, spokesman for the patrol's Yuma sector, said the seizure was easily one of the largest in recent memory in the sector, which extends from the southeastern tip of California to the Yuma-Pima county line.

"It's a big load, most definitely," he said.

The seizure came after Wellton-based patrol agents patrolling in a remote area 25 miles southeast of Tacna about 8 p.m. Sunday found evidence that a vehicle had crossed the border illegally, Bernacke said.

The vehicle tracks led agents north for about 10 miles along a road from the international boundary, he said. The tracks then veered off the road toward the east, and agents continued to follow them until they found the Avalanche stuck in sand.

Besides the marijuana in the vehicle, agents found two sets of footprints leading to the northeast, and a Customs and Border Protection helicopter located the two suspected smugglers hiding in brush about 1-1/2 miles from the vehicle at 9:45 p.m.

The two, both Mexican nationals, were arrested and turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration for prosecution, Bernacke said.

The vehicle, reported stolen out of Calexico, Calif., was turned over to the Yuma County Sheriff's Office.

http://www.yumasun.com/news/bust_41320_ ... _make.html

No 4 wheel drive?

For U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release, see:
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... c&t=113580

Originally Posted by jimpasz

No 4 wheel drive?

You know how it is, you just can't find good quality car theives these days!