2,500 pounds of pot seized

By Brady McCombs

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

U.S. Border Patrol agents recovered nearly 2,500 pounds of marijuana Monday afternoon in the Sierra Vista area and rescued a stranded female illegal entrant early Tuesday morning in the Sasabe area.

The rescue occurred about 12:40 a.m. Tuesday when one of the Border Patrol's rescue beacons went off in the west desert area east of the Baboquivari Mountains near Sasabe, about 70 miles southwest of Tucson, said Gustavo Soto, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.

Agents found a 30-year-old Mexican woman who had been left behind by a group of illegal border crossers, Soto said. She had severe blisters on her feet from walking but needed no further medical assistance, he said. The woman agreed to be returned to Mexico.

The two marijuana seizures took place Monday around 10:30 a.m. Agents followed a 2006 Ford F-250 east on Arizona 82 until it entered the town of Whetstone, where the driver, a 34-year-old Mexican illegal entrant, left the truck and tried to escape, Soto said. Whetstone is about 70 miles southeast of Tucson.