Border Patrol seize $1 million in drugs, guns south of Tucson

Fernanda Echavarri, Arizona Daily Star Arizona Daily Star |
Posted: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 11:13 am

About $1 million worth of drugs were seized at the Interstate 19 checkpoint over the weekend with the help of Border Patrol’s K-9 unit, officials said.

Two handguns, 32 pounds of methamphetamines, 50 pounds of cocaine, and 279 pounds of marijuana were found by agents from the Tucson sector in a separate incidents, according to a Border Patrol news release.

Canines sniffed out drugs inside two vehicles Friday, the first had 37 pounds of cocaine and 14 pounds of methamphetamine in it, and the second carried 54 pounds of marijuana, the agency said.

On Sunday, agents using a scanner on passing vehicles found a hidden compartment holding 13 pounds of cocaine and 17 pounds of methamphetamine, the release said. Later that day an agent’s dog alerted him of marijuana inside a vehicle’s gas tank where agents found bundles of marijuana.

Monday morning, agents found methamphetamine and a bag with two handguns and several rounds of ammunition inside a vehicle at the checkpoint, the Border Patrol said.

Other seizures throughout the weekend near Arizona 80 totaled 225 pounds of marijuana, the release said.

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