Border Patrol

SMUGGLERS' BARBED WIRE TRAPS TARGET US AGENTS

EL PASO -- Drug smugglers have apparently set "booby traps" for U.S.
Border Patrol agents on roads along the border near Deming, agency
officials said Monday.

The devices consist of barbed wire stretched like clotheslines across
trails used by agents on all-terrain vehicles. The lines, which are
difficult to spot, are about four feet off the ground and appear to
be intended to knock a rider off the ATV.

There have been no known injuries.

It isn't the first time such a tactic has been used by smugglers in
the desolate desert south of Deming and west of El Paso.

Two years ago, a rancher informed the Border Patrol of two wires
found stretched along a dirt road in a similar fashion. At that time,
officials said it appeared the lines were targeting agents who
frequently patrolled on ATVs.

Officials said the added danger will not stop them from going after smugglers.

During the weekend, agents using an infrared camera arrested six
people carrying 320 pounds of marijuana as they walked from the
border toward Interstate 10 near Deming, officials said.

The New Mexico border remains busy.

U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, along with Rep. Harry Teague,
all of New Mexico, on Monday asked the Department of Homeland
Security to increase the number of Border Patrol agents in the area
and set up a Forward Operating Base in the New Mexico bootheel.
Agents in the area are currently based in Lordsburg.