Backpacks loaded with over $650,000 cash seized on immigrant trail

Backpacks loaded with over $650,000 seized on immigrant trail

by Action 4 News Staff
Posted: 1 hr, 11 mins ago

ash seized by Border Patrol Agents http://www.valleycentral.com/uploade...pect=nostretch Photo: 1 of 5 More slideshows »

Border Patrol agents seized more than half a million in cash and crack cocaine after following a trail of footprints.

Agents from the Rio Grande Valley sector followed the footprints after they were left behind by immigrants who were in the country illegally.

Along the trail, backpacks full of cash and crack cocaine was found inside the abandoned property.

The seizure of drugs and cash was made on Thursday, Aug. 21.
Border Patrol confirmed the cash in the backpacks was both US dollars and Mexican pesos.

A total of 2.645 pounds of crack cocaine was found in the gear, and the drug is valued at about $90,000.

On the same day, agents also pulled over a driver for a vehicle stop in Rio Grande City.

During the stop, they found ammunition including five armor piercing, five .50 caliber and 10 armor piercing incendiary tracers.

The ammunition seized is not believed to be related to the money found along the trail.

You can report suspicious activity to Border Patrol by calling 800-863-9382.

http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=1087195

Cash, Drugs Possibly Left in US due to Firefight in Mexico

Posted: Aug 25, 2014 5:30 PM
Updated: Aug 25, 2014 9:03 PM

SULLIVAN CITY - Drugs and a massive amount of cash found south of Sullivan City last week is now in the hands of DEA agents.

Omar Zamora, a Border Patrol acting special operations supervisor, said, "It's not very often that we apprehend or seize money."

He explained, "If we can get to the money, the houses, the vehicle, that's something that we're excited to do. ... That's what hurts them in the end."

The drugs and money were found after a violent night across the border. A woman in Los Ebanos said those firefights kept her awake.

"Because the shots can cross to this side," she told us.

The woman, whose identity we hid for her safety, also said she saw several people cross the border into the community. It wouldn't be new if criminals stashed items on the U.S. side of the border during a firefight. A few years ago, gunbattles in Mexico would send people with weapons fleeing across the border to western Starr County.

CHANNEL 5 NEWS asked if Border Patrol officials if the money was stashed due to the battle across the border. We were told the investigation was turned over to the DEA, who is now tracking down who dropped the bags.

http://www.krgv.com/news/cash-drugs-possibly-left-in-us-due-to-firefight-in-mexico/