NEWS BRIEFS FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

CALEXICO, Calif. (AP) _ The Border Patrol seized a truck containing
more than $1 million worth of marijuana.

The truck got stuck on a makeshift ramp smugglers were using to cross
a canal along the California-Mexico border, Border Patrol agent Manny
Figueroa said Wednesday. The smugglers fled across the border and
there were no arrests.

Investigators said the smugglers were most likely headed for several
dirt roads that lead to Highways 86 and 111 and to Interstate 10,
where the marijuana can be ferried to major distribution points like
Los Angeles.

Officers spotted the smugglers putting a ramp across a dirt canal at
the border on Tuesday afternoon. As officers approached, the 1996
Ford truck slipped off the ramp and fell into the dry canal, agents
said.

There were 1,370 pounds of marijuana in the truck, agents said. Last
year, agents in the El Centro Sector, which includes desert
communities in Imperial and Riverside counties, seized 15,800 pounds
of marijuana worth about $12 million.