Border Patrol arrests 22 hiking into US with pot

Apr. 29, 2009 09:11 AM
Associated Press .

TUCSON - The U.S. Border Patrol says agents patrolling near Nogales have arrested 22 men after they were spotting carrying bales of marijuana into the U.S. from Mexico.

Border Patrol spokesman Mike Scioli (See-OH'-lee) said Wednesday that the men were spotted by agents who called in a helicopter and additional officers. As the agents closed in, the men dropped their bundles of marijuana and ran away.

Agents captured all 22 of them late Monday and seized 39 bundles of marijuana weighing more than 2,200 pounds. They also found a loaded .45-caliber pistol and 2 loaded magazines for an AK-47 assault rifle.

Scioli says the men were all identified as Mexican nationals who had entered the U.S. illegally.

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