Thread: Border Patrol Arrests Smugglers Posing As Police

Border Patrol Arrests Smugglers Posing As Police

Drugs Valued At $2.6 Million

By Erik Sandoval, iReporter and Digital Content Director
POSTED: 3:35 pm PDT June 29, 2011

NILAND, Calif. -- U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Highway 111 checkpoint near Niland arrested two suspected drug smugglers who posed as police to escape detection.

Agents said the incident happened on June 2 at 7 p.m.

A canine team alerted inspectors to a blue Chevrolet Silverado which was being driven by what appeared to be correctional officers from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Agents directed the truck to a second inspection when the truck took off at a high rate of speed.

Border Patrol soon found the truck abandoned northeast of the checkpoint, where they found several abandoned bundles of narcotics.
The driver and passenger, 29 and 30, were arrested about 2 miles away from where the vehicle was found

Neither had an affiliation to the Department of Corrections.
The bundles of narcotics contained 80 pounds of cocaine and 145 pounds of marijuana, carrying an estimated street value of $2.6 million.

The suspects and the narcotics were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

http://www.kesq.com/news/28400603/detail.html

Fake Corrections Officers arrested

Written by George Gale
Wednesday, 29 June 2011 09:16

Border Patrol agents at the Highway 111 checkpoint made the arrest June 2nd. The incident occurred at around 7:00 pm. A canine team at the primary inspection area alerted to a blue Silverado occupied by what appeared to be two corrections officers from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The driver was asked to pull into the secondary inspection area. Instead, he accelerated and fled northbound at a high rate of speed. Agents responded to the pursuit, and later discovered the abandoned truck northeast of the checkpoint, near Niland, on a dirt road off of the Highway. The driver of the vehicle was found near the abandoned pickup. The passenger was found about two miles from the scene. Both were arrested. Inside the Silverado, agents discovered several bundles of narcotics. In total, they seized 80 pounds of cocaine and 145 pounds of marijuana. The combined street value was estimated at $2,679,000. The suspects, both US citizens, ages 29 and 30 years old, with no affiliation to Corrections, were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration, along with the narcotics, uniforms and vehicle, for further investigation.

http://kxoradio.com/news/local/1416-fak ... ested.html