Officials say drug, immigrant smuggling surging at border

Posted at: 05/20/2010 10:45 PM
By: Misa Maruyama, Eyewitness News 4

Drug and illegal immigrant smuggling is surging in New Mexico's Bootheel, according to the Hidalgo County Sheriff's Department.

Eyewitness News 4 tagged along with deputies in Southwestern New Mexico to see the trend for ourselves. Investigators say they found $100,000 worth of marijuana on Wednesday in the trunk of a car, after the driver refused to show his photo identification or vehicle registration. Officials said a suspected illegal immigrant who had been deported 10 times was behind the wheel.

Deputies also executed a search warrant on a suspicious truck that had been pulled over Wednesday night. Officials said about $50,000 worth of marijuana was stashed in the gas tank. The license plate appeared to be from Chihuahua, Mexico. The driver, who officials say had a US Visa, told deputies he was on his way to Albuquerque.

"We get a lot of marijuana and alien smuggling loads going toward Albuquerque. We get a lot of vehicles registered out of Los Lunas, Belen and Albuquerque," Cpl. Gary Lassiter of the Hidalgo Co. Sheriff's Dept.

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