BP SEIZES 4 LOADS OF MARIJUANA

The United States Border Patrol Station in Sonoita is responsible for
25 percent of marijuana seizures in the entire Tucson sector.

For this fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, 2002, to date, the Sonoita
station has seized 15,135 pounds of marijuana, said Al Kramer, Agent
in Charge.

Marijuana seizures during the current fiscal year for the Tucson
sector, of which Sonoita is a part, total 60,135 pounds, Kramer said.

For the Sonoita station, seizures have increased by 19 percent, year
to date, Kramer said.

Agents intercepted 1,864 pounds of marijuana Thursday during four
unrelated seizures.

Agents responded to a suspicious vehicle report near the western gate
of Fort Huachuca on Cimarron Road.

The vehicle had left by the time agents arrived.

The agents searched the surrounding area with a canine unit, and found
an abandoned marijuana load weighing 729.2 pounds, Kramer said.

It was determined that the bundles were left at that location the
previous night, as they were covered with frost. No arrests were made.

Later that morning, agents responded to a call from the Patagonia
Marshal's Office, Kramer said.

A marshal's deputy conducted a traffic stop on a recreational vehicle
on Highway 82. A group of people, thought to be undocumented aliens,
ran from the camper, Kramer said.

Border Patrol searched the area along Highway 82, and came upon the
footprints of another group who had recently traveled through the area.

A canine unit located an abandoned stash of marijuana, weighing 426.4
pounds.

No subjects were apprehended.

"And that was before 9 a.m., Kramer said.

Around mid-day, agents observed a sports utility vehicle crossing the
border in the San Rafael Valley, near Lochiel.

The vehicle was apprehended on Highway 83.

As the vehicle pulled over, two male subjects bailed out near the
Black Oak Cemetery, Kramer said.

Agents found 504.3 pounds of marijuana in the vehicle. They searched,
but could not locate the two subjects who had fled.

Later that afternoon, agents were checking a known smuggling trail
east of Patagonia when they came across another marijuana stash,
weighing 204.4 pounds, Kramer said.

The marijuana was turned over to the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency.

Drug smugglers will often abandon a load and flee when threatened with
detection and capture, Kramer said.

"They know the drugs will bog down our agents."

Agents who intercept a substantial amount of narcotics have to secure
the area. They can't abandon the drug load to pursue a fleeing
subject, he explained.

Kramer said that most drug loads are backpacked across the border. The
loads are stashed, and a contact person with a vehicle will come, pick
it up, and transport it.

Sometimes, in a very remote area, agents will have to haul the
intercepted loads on foot, he said.

An Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopter has assisted agents
with drug seizures in remote locations.

"The helicopter will drop the cargo net, and carry the drugs to a
vehicle, or to our station," he said.

The helicopter was not necessary for any of Thursday's
seizures.

The San Rafael Valley, which is the responsibility of the Sonoita
station, has seen an increase in drug trafficking, Kramer said.

The remote location, and lack of a large physical barrier, makes the
valley a favorite spot for smugglers.

The lack of a law enforcement presence on the Mexican side of the
border also makes the area attractive to drug traffickers, Kramer said.

Smugglers try to get north of Sonoita, where a vehicle will often be
waiting, Kramer said.