Marijuana seized after agents catch smugglers using ramps to drive over border fence

This was today at 130-131. West of Campo, not east. One Minuteman observed, others monitored on the radio.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070621-1208-bn21drugramp.html

Marijuana seized after agents catch smugglers using ramps to drive over border fence

By Debbi Farr Baker
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM

12:08 p.m. June 21, 2007



U.S. Border Patrol
This photo provided by the U.S. Border Patrol shows one of the ramps used to drive across the barriers along the border.
Photo gallery
SAN DIEGO – Border Patrol agents in East County seized hundreds of pounds of marijuana valued at almost three-quarters of a million dollars Wednesday from a truck that was driven over the border on metal ramps.

An agent was patrolling the area about two miles east of Campo at 7:30 a.m. when he noticed a suspicious-looking 2006 Nissan Frontera heading westbound on state Route 94, said Supervisory Border Patrol agent Richard E. Smith.

The agent began to follow the truck but it made a U-turn and began to drive erratically, Smith said. The truck left the paved road and headed southbound on a dirt road toward Mexico.

The agent followed the truck to the border where he found about 20 people on the U.S. side erecting the ramps so the truck could get back into Mexico. Smith said the smugglers probably alerted their accomplices that they had been spotted.

The two occupants of the truck bailed out and the whole group ran back into Mexico. One of them turned and pointed a gun at the agent but did not fire, Smith said.

Agents confiscated the ramps and the pickup in which they found 60 packages of marijuana valued at $735,000.

Smith said it is not uncommon for smugglers to use metal ramps to cross the border in areas that are blocked by steel vehicle barriers. The barriers, a horizontal bar anchored to posts in the ground with large boulders beneath, are designed to stop vehicles from driving across. They are much lower than the standard border fence. Agents found a similar ramp setup last week.

The ramps may be hidden nearby or driven to a spot and assembled, Smith said.

The Border Patrol said that Mexican authorities were called after the incident but did not respond.
Debbi Baker: (619) 293-1710; debbi.baker@uniontrib.com

http://www.campominutemen.com/