Border Patrol Gets 1,000 Pounds of Pot in Four Smuggling Busts

U.S. Border Patrol agents seized 1,011 pounds of marijuana in four separate incidents this week, a Border Patrol spokesman in San Diego said Wednesday.

The first seizure occurred at 5 p.m. Tuesday, when agents found 527 pounds of marijuana inside a minivan about 20 miles east of Tecate.

When border agents tried to stop the van, it turned around and headed toward Mexico, but got a flat tire on a rocky dirt road. The 29-year-old driver was apprehended by Sheriff’s deputies and then arrested, though his name was not available.

The remaining three seizures happened Wednesday morning beginning at 4 a.m., when Border Patrol agents discovered about six people in a car about 2 miles east of the San Ysidro port of entry and several hundred yards north of the border, said Border Patrol spokesman Steve Kean.

The people ran into Mexico. Agents discovered 289 pounds of marijuana packed in six duffel bags in the car trunk.

About an hour later, Border Patrol agents spotted a man walking along a field 3 miles east of the San Ysidro port of entry, Kean said. The man ran back toward Mexico when he was approached by agents. A duffel bag with 44 pounds of marijuana was found nearby.

The final seizure happened about 7:30 a.m. as a result of what Kean said is a common smuggling practice--using two vehicles to distract agents.

A pickup and a car each left the south end of Britannia Boulevard on Otay Mesa, Kean said in a statement. When border agents tried to stop the pickup, it pulled up to the border fence and the approximately 15 people inside climbed onto the truck and over the border fence into Mexico, he said.

The car was stopped heading west on Interstate 905, and agents discovered 151 pounds of marijuana in the trunk. They arrested the 29-year-old driver, the statement said. His name was withheld pending a Drug Enforcement Agency investigation, Kean said.