Border Patrol nets 23 illegal immigrants, 242 pounds of pot in separate busts

UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM

5:19 p.m. May 14, 2008



Courtesy, Department of Homeland Security
A hidden compartment for migrant smuggling was found in this truck.

The Border Patrol announced Wednesday the capture of 23 illegal immigrants in Tecate and the seizure of 242 pounds of marijuana at the San Clemente checkpoint.

Just after 9 p.m. Monday in Tecate, agents followed footprints to a flatbed trailer and found the illegal immigrants hiding in a secret compartment welded to the trailer's undercarriage, authorities said. The truck driver could not be located.

In San Clemente, drug-sniffing dogs alerted agents to two vehicles carrying marijuana as they tried to pass through the checkpoint, authorities said. The first was a Ford Explorer truck driven by a 34-year-old man Monday morning. Agents found nearly 79 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $63,040, authorities said.

In the afternoon, a 32-year-old woman driving a Ford F-250 truck was stopped when a dog alerted to possible drugs in her vehicle. Agents later found 163 pounds of marijuana in the gas tank and in compartments throughout the bed of the truck with an estimated street value of $130,400, authorities said.

The drivers and the drugs were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metr ... busts.html