U.S. Border Agent Found With 500 Pounds of Pot

San Diego

A Border Patrol agent assigned to a lonely stretch frequented by drug
smugglers was arrested with more than 500 pounds of marijuana in his patrol
vehicle, authorities said yesterday.

The agent, Thomas Bair, was arrested early Tuesday in eastern San Diego
County after fellow agents told supervisors that he was behaving
suspiciously, Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rodney Adams said.

Bair was held without bail, accused of possession of a controlled substance
with intent to distribute, federal prosecutors said.

The arrest occurred at a time when the Border Patrol finds itself at the
frontlines of the war against narcotics traffic. U.S. officials suspect 70
percent of illegal narcotics entering the United States comes over the
U.S.Mexico border. A significant portion is believed to move through San
Diego, often on lonely back roads like the dirt track outside the U.S.
border town of Tecate where the Tuesday incident allegedly began.

The two Border Patrol agents who reported the incident told the

DEA they came upon Bair after midnight on Tecate Mission Road. He seemed to
be attempting to kick something under his vehicle, according to the
statement of a DEA agent.

The agents spotted military style duffel bags in the rear passenger seat,
stuffed with what appeared to be marijuana, the DEA statement said. Bair
was edgy and confrontational, the report said. "Bair began shouting that
the agents were not supposed to be there and that they had ruined
everything," the statement said.

One Border Patrol agent said he thought he heard people running away toward
Mexico in the darkness. When he asked if they should pursue them, Bair told
them no, the DEA account said. The agents left the scene and notified
supervisors.

A short time later, Bair arrived at a Border Patrol checkpoint, where the
agents were reporting the incident to a DEA agent, and he turned in the
marijuana.

Bair told one DEA agent he was aware of drug trafficking in the area and
had intended to intercept the drugs and become the "hero" of his unit,
according to a DEA statement filed in court.