Patrol makes large marijuana seizure

FROM STAFF REPORTS

December 26, 2007 - 8:35AM

Nearly 1,400 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of more than $1 million has been turned over to the Yuma County Narcotics Task Force after Border Patrol agents prevented a pot smuggling attempt in east Yuma County earlier this week, the patrol said.

Agents also arrested a smuggling suspect, an illegal alien who had been deported from the United States on five prior occasions and who has prior convictions for narcotics smuggling, the patrol said in a news release.

The seizure of of the marijuana and arrest came Sunday night after agents assigned to the patrol's Wellton station discovered a 2006 Chevrolet Avalanche had illegally crossed the border in the east county, the release said.

The vehicle turned around and headed back to Mexico as marked patrol vehicles approached, and agents later found the vehicle abandoned about a mile north of the international boundary line, the release said.

Tracking footprints from the abandoned vehicle, agents found and arrested the driver, the release said, but discovered a passenger had returned to Mexico. The driver was identified as Francisco Javier Borboa-Meza, San Luis Rio Colorado, Son.