Yesterday morning, a team of Border Patrol agents, fresh out of the academy, spotted three suspicious vehicles driving north from the border near the port of entry in Tecate, according to a Border Patrol press release.
The agents were working under the guidance of a veteran agent when they spotted the vehicles moving in a convoy, the press release states. The agents followed the cars west on State Route 94 until the smugglers turned abruptly south and headed towards Tecate. The fleeing drivers then turned their cars along the border fence before abandoning their vehicles and escaping on foot across the border into Mexico.
Inside the vehicles, the Border Patrol agents found 158 cellophane-wrapped bundles of marijuana weighing 1,967 pounds and worth more than $1 million.
The seven rookie agents are part of more than 500 new agents added to the Border Patrol team, the press release states. Here’s what the press release says:
The addition of new Border Patrol recruits helps ensure the safety and security of our Nation’s borders by preventing dangerous people and illegal narcotics from entering our country. The San Diego Sector Border Patrol has seized 30,417 pounds of marijuana as of July 30, 2007, a 40% decline from fiscal year 2006.