1,100-lb. pot find has a new wrinkle

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Finding more than 1,100 pounds of marijuana Tuesday on the Tohono O'odham Reservation wasn't unusual for Border Patrol agents.

Discovering it in 50 bundles tied to the front and backs of three ATVs covered in camouflage blankets, however, wasn't normal, said Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman Gustavo Soto. ATVs are most often used to smuggle small amounts — 20 to 30 pounds — of drugs in quick dropoffs near the border, Soto said.

"This is extremely unusual," Soto said. "It just shows how much success we are having out in the Ajo area."

Agents found the ATVs Tuesday morning near the village of Gu Vo, northeast of Lukeville near Federal Route 1, Soto said. Agents followed tracks from southeast of Lukeville near Menager's Dam until they found one ATV concealed in the brush. They found the other two about a mile north, Soto said.

The 1,100 pounds of marijuana has an estimated street value of $550,000, using figures from the Arizona High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, the federal anti-drug analysis and intelligence center.

Tuesday's seizure is the latest bust in a busy start to fiscal 2007 for the Tucson Sector. Since Oct. 1, agents have seized more than 107,000 pounds of marijuana, a 27 percent increase from the same period during the record-setting fiscal 2006, Soto said.