6 MEN, 9 HORSES, POT SEIZED NEAR ARIVACA

Six men were arrested and nine horses packing 1,215 pounds of marijuana were
seized by U.S. Border Patrol agents near Arivaca yesterday.

Rob Daniels, Border Patrol spokesman in Tucson, said the men were turned
over to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration along with 14 bundles of
marijuana packed by the horses. He said he could not identify the men.

The horses were taken to Nogales for evaluation and possible use by the
Border Patrol.

Daniels said the confiscated marijuana brings the amount seized by the
agency since the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year to more than 172,600
pounds. That is well above the record 160,003 pounds taken last fiscal year.

In this case, agents working southeast of Arivaca just after midnight came
across the trail of several horses headed north from the border, Daniels said.

The agents, aided by a U.S. Customs Service airplane, worked into the early
morning to locate the horses.

At about 3:15, agents tracking the horses on foot came upon a group of men
on horseback in a steep, rocky canyon. But Daniels said the men used the
horses to escape.

About four hours later, the agents came upon the group again. They arrested
six men and seized the horses and drugs.

Daniels said one of the men was armed with a Russian-made AK-47 assault
rifle, which was also seized.

He said using horses for smuggling drugs ``isn't as common as using human
backpackers, but it happens, especially in that area, because of the rugged
terrain. The area is steep and rocky, and makes for a tough tracking
operation.''

Mexican horses are currently banned from import into the United States
because cases of equine encephalitis have been reported in some southern states.

Daniels said that in the past year the agency has seized about a dozen
horses that have been put to use by the Border Patrol after they were
determined to be healthy.

Horse patrol units have been established at Nogales and Sonoita so far.

He said that if all goes well, the horses seized yesterday will end up in
Willcox, where the next horse patrol unit is planned.

On Friday, an on-duty Border Patrol agent was injured in Nogales when her
horse threw her after being spooked by lightning. The accident occurred on
the city's west side in the canyons near Mariposa and Target Range Road.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett