Border Patrol Seizes Drugs After Vehicle Abandoned Near Nogales, Ariz.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Tucson, Ariz. — Border Patrol agents from the Tucson, Ariz. sector seized more than 200 pounds of marijuana Sunday morning during routine patrol in Nogales.

At approximately 10:45 a.m., agents noticed several individuals running south into Mexico near the east side of Nogales, Arizona. Since this is routine in cases involving drug smuggling in the area near Escalada Drive, agents responded to the area to look for suspicious vehicles.

Shortly after positioning themselves along Court Street and Morley Avenue, they spotted a four door sedan pass their location. Agents followed the vehicle to a stop light at the intersection of Crawford St. and Grand Ave, where the agents attempted to question the driver. Once the driver spotted the agents exiting their vehicle, he sped through the red light and began to head toward the DeConcini port of entry.

Once the agents caught up with the vehicle, they found it abandoned and having collided with a southbound vehicle being driven by a Mexican family from Sonora. The driver of the sedan had fled on foot back into Mexico, leaving behind the accident scene and damaged vehicles.

The two adults and a year-old infant in the second vehicle did not require medical treatment at the scene.

The smuggler left behind eight bundles of marijuana weighing more than 200 pounds. The marijuana was turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.