Border Patrol, BLM agents seize trucks carrying two tons of pot

By Brady McCombs

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

U.S. Border Patrol agents assisting a Bureau of Land Management ranger Sunday found more than two tons of marijuana inside a pair of camouflaged trucks that the ranger had been pursuing Sunday northwest of Tucson.

At approximately 6:45 a.m. Sunday, Border Patrol agents went to an area near the town of Stanfield to provide assistance to the ranger, who was pursuing two trucks covered in camouflage tarps on Stanfield Road near Interstate 8, said Rob Daniels, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.

The ranger began the pursuit after seeing one truck suspiciously towing the other, Daniels said. When the ranger approached the trucks, one of them rammed the ranger's vehicle.

The drivers of the camouflaged trucks tried to get away and eventually bailed out, escaping into the desert, Daniels said. The ranger wasn't injured, he said.

Agents found 253 bundles of marijuana weighing 4,660 pounds and a loaded .45-caliber pistol inside the abandoned trucks, he said. The first truck, a 2006 GMC reported stolen out of San Diego, was turned over to the Department of Public Safety. The second truck, a 2004 Chevy, is being processed for forfeiture by the Border Patrol.