'WE'RE ON RECORD FOR MARIJUANA,' CUSTOMS SAYS AFTER SEIZURE

U.S. Border Patrol agents found more than $1.7 million worth of marijuana
abandoned by smugglers using two trucks disguised as city of Douglas
vehicles, authorities said.

Unidentified border crossers disguised a pickup truck and a utility truck
as city vehicles and loaded them with 2,147 pounds of marijuana.

They made it nine miles east of Douglas before ditching the trucks, said
Ryan Scudder, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman.

The Arizona license plates on the truck are phoney, he said, and the trucks
carried magnetic "city of Douglas" placards and had orange emergency lights
on their roofs, Scudder said.

"They looked like trucks the city used, but they aren't city vehicles," he
said. "They've used the legitimacy of the ... government, and what they are
trying to do is hide in plain view."

At about 2 p.m. Wednesday, Douglas agents spotted the trucks and followed
them, Scudder said.

Agents believe the drivers cut through barbed wire at the U.S.-Mexico
border, crossed into the United States and ended up on Geronimo Trail Road,
a rural road about nine miles east of Douglas, he said.

The trucks were carrying 106 cellophane bundles of marijuana, Scudder said.
Agents believe those in the trucks ran back into Mexico.

The pot seizure is among the biggest this year, Scudder said.

This year, agents have confiscated 258,816 pounds of marijuana, Scudder
said. "We're up 55 percent from last year," he said. "We're on a record for
marijuana."

Roger Maier, U.S. Customs Service spokesman, said the agency is familiar
with these smugglers.

"We strongly believe that the people involved are targets of an ongoing
customs investigation for smuggling in that area, and we are pursuing
federal indictments," Maier said.

He said this group is known for smuggling marijuana and is suspected of
also smuggling cocaine.

Maier said he could not say too much about the case because detectives
anticipate arrests in the next couple of months.

He could not say whether U.S. citizens were part of the group.

Those involved face, if caught and convicted, federal charges that include
conspiracy, importation of a controlled substance with intent to
distribute, and possession of a controlled substance with intention to
distribute, he said.