Thread: 1,325 pounds of pot found at border; 3 held in coke smugglin

Published: 05.08.2008

1,325 pounds of pot found at border; 3 held in coke smuggling
By Brady McCombs
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
U.S. Border Patrol agents found 1,325 pounds of marijuana Tuesday near the San Miguel Gate on the Tohono O'odham Reservation.
Also Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested three women who tried to smuggle nearly 28 pounds of cocaine through the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales in their purses and underneath their clothes.
The Border Patrol seizure began when two agents and an agency dog were following the footprints of a group of 21 illegal immigrants about four miles outside the village of San Miguel, southwest of Tucson near the border, when they came upon 21 burlap packs, said Mike Scioli, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.
There were 60 bundles of marijuana in the packs, he said. The 1,325 pounds of marijuana had an estimated value of $761,875, using figures from the National Drug Intelligence Center.
Agents in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector seized 519,880 pounds of marijuana from last Oct. 1 through April 30, down 8 percent from the same period a year earlier, Border Patrol statistics show. (The Tucson Sector covers 262 miles, from the New Mexico-Arizona line to Yuma County.)
That total accounts for 51 percent of all marijuana seized along the nearly 2,000-mile Southwest border.
The port seizure took place about 1 p.m. Tuesday when a Customs and Border Protection officer became suspicious during questioning of three women in a Volkswagen Beetle, said Brian Levin, Customs and Border Protection spokesman. During further questioning, officers decided to search each woman.
They found more than 10 pounds hidden under the clothes and in the purse of the 21-year-old driver, 10 pounds hidden under the clothes and in the purse of the 46-year-old passenger and another 8 pounds in the purse of the 70-year-old passenger.
All three women, Mexican citizens from Nogales, Sonora, were arrested and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Levin said.
The 28 pounds of cocaine had an estimated value of $196,868, using figures from the National Drug Intelligence Center.
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The Border Patrol seizure began when two agents and an agency dog were following the footprints of a group of 21 illegal immigrants about four miles outside the village of San Miguel, southwest of Tucson near the border, when they came upon 21 burlap packs, said Mike Scioli, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.

The smugglers must have some type of surveillance and warning system that alerts them that they are being tracked--they apparently ditched the drugs when they became aware border agents were after them and took off.

Talk about courage and bravery--TWO border agents and a border dog tracking TWENTY-ONE illegal alien drug smugglers not knowing if the smugglers were armed! That is a person ratio of 10.5 to 1.

All border agents should have a border patrol dog.

"Honor First"
U.S. Border Patrol's motto