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 News from Around the Americas | December 2006 
Pot Bust On Border Is Massive
 Jesse Bogan - Rio Grande Valley Bureau
| | Officials said it was unclear how the drugs were brought from Mexico. They might have come across international bridges or been shuttled across the Rio Grande. |
McAllen, TX — Authorities suspect they dealt a big blow to a "major" drug trafficking organization by discovering nearly 9 tons of marijuana, the largest stockpile in recent history in Starr County.
"When you get a load like this, it is something to be proud of," said Jerry Robinette, special agent-in-charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Antonio. "Believe me, you don't lose 17,000 pounds and not feel it."
ICE agents and a Starr County drug task force found the dope Thursday evening in well-crafted concrete bunkers hidden under two stand-alone garages on a property 4 miles outside Rio Grande City. Police seized surveillance equipment, a Ford F-350 truck and several firearms along with the 17,564 pounds of pot.
No one has been arrested, but officers are checking who owns the property and truck.
"Basically, most of the time has been spent here weighing the marijuana and inventorying the different items that came from the location," said Omar Escobar, an assistant district attorney in Starr County.
Officials said it was unclear how the drugs were brought from Mexico. They might have come across international bridges or been shuttled across the Rio Grande or both.
"They are good at what they do," Escobar said of the smugglers, but "it looks like they dropped the ball this one time. In this case the officers were a step ahead of the bad guys."
He suspected the stockpile was the result of several trips by well-organized teams.
"These guys are very advanced and high tech and they have a lot of manpower on the streets to do counter-surveillance," he said. "They a lot of times can figure out who the undercover agents are and where there might be law enforcement officers in the area."
Robinette said this was the largest seizure of drugs away from international bridges in recent South Texas history. About two years ago, he recalled some 24,000 pounds of pot found in a tractor-trailer rig crossing into Laredo.
U.S. Border Patrol agents at the Falfurrias checkpoint on Wednesday found 5,170 pounds of marijuana hidden in a big rig loaded with limes.
jbogan@express-news.net |
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