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Border Patrol Agents Accused Of Drug Smuggling
Two Agents On Administrative Leave

POSTED: 3:32 pm PDT June 8, 2005
UPDATED: 3:46 pm PDT June 8, 2005

SAN DIEGO -- Two San Diego Border Patrol agents are under investigation for allegedly helping smuggle drugs into the U.S., 10News reported.




Officials inside the Border Patrol said they admit an investigation is under way.

Questions remain, though, about which agents were involved and how they allegedly helped move drugs into the U.S.

Sources told 10News the two border patrol agents were linked to the same Mexican drug smugglers involved in the shooting of a fellow agent in East County Friday.

"This is a huge investigation. We are still sorting it out," Lt. Thomas Bennett, with the Sheriff's Department, said.

A Border Patrol agent was shot in the leg when he tried to stop a man who was loading hundreds of pounds of marijuana into a truck at the border fence near Boulevard.

The Border Patrol and other agencies involved in that case will not confirm whether the agents under suspicion are linked to that case.

Other highly-placed sources said the agents are linked to a North County gang that moved thousands of pounds of marijuana, methamphetamines and cocaine into the U.S.

The Department of Homeland Security released video of a raid at one of the gang member's homes.

"This organization was involved in smuggling drugs into the United States. They were also involved in the distribution," ICE special agent Michael Unzueta said.

Immigration and customs officials will not confirm whether that group is also tied to the two border patrol agents suspected of helping drug smugglers.

A Border Patrol spokesperson said that two agents have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation, but no one has been arrested.