Thread: AZ-Pot seizures total 2,471 lbs.; crossers reunited

Pot seizures total 2,471 lbs.; crossers reunited
By Brady McCombs
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.06.2008
Border Patrol agents seized more than 2,400 pounds of marijuana in two separate incidents earlier this week and helped reunite a child with his parents after they were separated in the desert on Monday.
Drug seizures
Early Tuesday, one mile north of the U.S.-Mexican border near Serapo's Gate on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation, agents spotted a suspicious silver Toyota Land Cruiser, said Mike Scioli, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. When agents approached the vehicle, the driver fled back into Mexico.
Agents found 51 bundles of marijuana inside that weighed a total of 1,230 pounds, he said. The Land Cruiser was reported stolen, and it was turned over to the Tohono O'odham Police Department. The drugs were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
On Sunday night, agents patrolling on Arizona 85 near the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range noticed two cars driving through the desert with their headlights off, Scioli said. Agents found the vehicles, a 2005 Toyota Tacoma and a 2002 Jeep Cherokee Sport, abandoned one mile southwest of the bombing range. Both had been reported stolen in Sonora, Mexico, Scioli said.
They found a total of 51 bundles of marijuana in the two vehicles that weighed a total of 1,241 pounds.
From October through July, agents in the Tucson Sector seized 720,121 pounds of marijuana, a 6 percent decrease from the 767,155 pounds that agents had seized the at same time last year, agency figures show.
Family reunion
On Monday afternoon near Naco, agents came upon a group of 20 illegal immigrants, and the group scattered, Scioli said. Agents captured two men and a boy about 8 years old, he said.
At the Border Patrol station, the boy told agents that his parents were still out in the desert. The agency sent out a bulletin to all stations in the Tucson Sector with the names and descriptions of the parents.
A few hours later, the Border Patrol received a call from the Tucson Police Department. Officers said they had a couple in custody who spoke very little English but had written on a napkin that they were from Oaxaca, Mexico, and had lost their child while crossing the border that day, Scioli said.
Agents met the couple and confirmed they were the boy's parents. The three were reunited and given voluntary returns to Mexico, Scioli said.
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CLOSE THE BORDER; WE MUST