Published: 05.08.2007

Entrant found dead; drug loads seized
By Brady McCombs
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
The death of a suspected illegal border crosser and a host of drug seizures kept federal border enforcement agents busy over the weekend.
On Saturday at 3:30 p.m., a Border Patrol agent patrolling trails south of Sierra Vista found the body of a suspected male border crosser between Hunter Canyon and Miller Canyon, said Gustavo Soto, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. Cochise County sheriff's deputies recovered the body, he said.
It is the seventh known illegal border crosser death in Cochise County in 2007 and the 13th since Oct. 1, the start of the government's fiscal 2007, according to the Cochise County Medical Examiner's Office.
Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, which covers all of Arizona except the western corner near Yuma, reported 60 border deaths — a 21 percent decrease from fiscal year 2006 — from Oct. 1 through April, according to the latest figures.
Also over the weekend:
● Border Patrol agents on Sunday seized more than 639 pounds of marijuana with an estimated value of $639,000, that was being hauled on horseback on the Tohono O'odham Nation. The smugglers cut the bundles from the horses and fled, but agents recovered four horses and arrested one man, Soto said.
● On Saturday, U.S. Customs and Border Protections officers in Nogales seized 35 pounds of cocaine with an estimated worth of $346,500 hidden in the fenders of a 1994 Ford Ranger at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry. The next day, officers found 15 pounds of cocaine in the gas tank of a 2006 Nissan Sentra, said Brian Levin, Customs and Border Protection spokesman.
● Also on Saturday U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Douglas found 91 pounds of marijuana inside bumpers, doors, seats and the tailgate of a 1991 Ford F-150 truck driven by a 60-year-old man from Agua Prieta, Sonora,, Levin said.
From Oct. 1 through April, Customs and Border Protection officers seized 1,795 pounds of cocaine at Arizona ports of entries, 49 percent less than the same time in 2006, Levin said. In the same period, they seized 41,169 pounds of marijuana, a 39 percent increase.
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