Patrol arrests bike-riding smugglers

December 10, 2007 - 1:22PM

They might have thought they found a faster, easier way to carry marijuana into the United States, but four smugglers may have only complicated matters when they strapped loads of pot on their backs and tried to cross the border on bicycles over the weekend.

The four were arrested in the desert southeast of Wellton in rugged desert terrain that Yuma Sector Border Patrol spokesman Michael Bernacke described as not very conducive to bicycles.

"I would find it a lot easier to walk," Bernacke said.

The four smugglers and 189 pounds of pot they were carrying were turned over to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, the patrol said.

Drug smugglers and illegal aliens have used bicycles before to enter the country, Bernacke said, although bikes are not often seen in the Yuma sector.