Press Release - Tucson Sector PIO
Posted by AP October 24, 2005
CBP Border Patrol Seizes over $6 million in Marijuana
Tucson, AZ -- This weekend, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Tucson Sector Border Patrol Agents interdicted three vehicles with over 7,000 pounds of marijuana near Arivaca, Arizona. Sunday evening at approximately 11:00 p.m., Border Patrol Agents assigned to the Tucson Station observed four trucks traveling in tandem on Tres Bellotas Ranch Road, near the town of Arivaca, Arizona. As the agents got in behind the vehicles in order to run registration checks, three of the trucks stopped and the drivers fled, abandoning their trucks. The fourth vehicle drove off road and disappeared. As agents secured the three abandoned trucks, additional agents searched for the drivers and for the fourth truck, to no avail.
Inside the first truck, a blue Dodge Ram 3500, agents found 97 bundles of marijuana. While the second vehicle, a maroon Ford F350, contained 138 bundles of marijuana, and the third, a brown Ford F350, contained 115 bundles of marijuana. The marijuana, which totaled 7,863 pounds and has an estimated value of $6.2 million was seized and remanded to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, along with the maroon Ford F350. The blue Dodge Ram and the brown Ford F350 were reported stolen and were turned over to the Pima County Sheriff's Office for recovery services. Border Patrol Agents in Tucson Sector have seized over 25,000 pounds of marijuana since the beginning of the new Fiscal Year (October 1, 2005).
