Nearly a ton of pot seized near Three Points
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.22.2008

Officials recovered more than 1,600 pounds of marijuana early Monday morning near Three Points after a pursuit of a stolen van with government license plates.
Early Monday morning, Tohono O’odham Police called the U.S. Border Patrol for help in tracking down a fullsize white van trying to flee on Arizona 86 near Three Points, said Mike Scioli, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. A Border Patrol agent spotted the vehicle and took over the pursuit, with the Tohono O’odham Police officer hanging behind, Scioli said.
While being followed, a person in the van began throwing bundles of marijuana out the passenger side window, he said. He was likely throwing the bundles to either force the agent off the road or in hopes he would stop to pick them up, Scioli said.
The driver of the van turned onto to West Hermans Roadand he and the passenger abandoned the van. A Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine helicopter flying above kept an eye on one of the suspects until a Border Patrol agent apprehended the 18-year-old man from Caborca, Mexico, Scioli said. He was arrested and turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration for prosecution.
The other man got away.
The combined total of marijuana found in the van and in the bundles thrown out of the van came to 1,635 pounds, which has an estimated value of $940,125 using figures from the National Drug Intelligence Center.
The van was reported stolen from a rental car company out of Phoenix. The license plates were from a Tohono O’odham government vehicle, Scioli said.




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