Thread: Smugglers Breach Fence, Abandon Vehicles with $1.8 Million

C.B.P. News Release

Smugglers Breach Fence, Abandon Vehicles with $1.8 Million in Marijuana

(Monday, November 09, 2009)

Yuma, Ariz. – U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Yuma Station seized two vehicles and more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana in a remote area of southwest Arizona early Saturday morning.

At approximately 4:30 a.m., Border Patrol agents detected the illegal entry of two vehicles approximately 13 miles east of the San Luis, Ariz., port of entry. The vehicles entered the United States through a large section of the border fence that had been cut with some type of torch.

Agents followed the tire sign north from the border and encountered a 1997 Chevrolet Tahoe driving off-road through the desert. When the driver noticed that agents had spotted him, he turned around and drove back toward the border. The driver stopped the vehicle a few yards north of the border fence and he and the passenger jumped out and ran back into Mexico. Agents then discovered several large plastic-wrapped bundles of marijuana stacked inside the Tahoe.

The second vehicle a 1998 Chevrolet Tahoe, was found abandoned and loaded with multiple bundles of marijuana about three miles north of the international boundary. After securing the vehicle and contraband, agents followed two sets of footprints that led away from the vehicle and determied that the driver and a passenger had returned to Mexico.

Agents seized 194 bundles of marijuana weighing a total of 2,302 pounds with an estimated street value of more than $1.8 million. The vehicles were transported to the Yuma Station and will be processed for seizure. The marijuana was turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

Contacts For This News Release
Yuma Sector
CBP Public Affairs
Phone: (928) 341-6520

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/new ... 092009.xml

What? They stopped "a few yards" from the border and got out and left everything behind? That makes no sense. Why didnt they just continue to drive across the border?

Originally Posted by redpony353

What? They stopped "a few yards" from the border and got out and left everything behind? That makes no sense. Why didnt they just continue to drive across the border?

The had moved away form the hole they cut in the fence. The border patrol was between them and the hole. They left the vehicles and climbed over the fence to get away.