Tons of pot seized at Port of Entry

By Susan Shroder
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM

4:33 p.m. November 25, 2008

SAN DIEGO – A total of more than 7,300 pounds of marijuana valued at $3.3 million was seized Tuesday from two vans at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, and a driver in the SENTRI trusted-traveler program was arrested on suspicion of smuggling marijuana at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, authorities said.

The male drivers of the vans, both Mexican citizens, were arrested and taken to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown San Diego, said Vince Bond, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Both drivers were in white cargo vans – one a 1999 GMC Express and one a 1993 Ford Econoline – and were behind each other in line at the Otay Mesa passenger entry Tuesday morning, Bond said.

Each van was “just filledâ€