BP Finds Pot Stash - Laser Provides Clue

[Willowdared]

Laser light tips off Border Patrol to large pot stash

By Debbi Farr Baker
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
12:59 p.m. January 9, 2008
SAN DIEGO – A red light from a laser alerted Border Patrol agents that more than human smuggling was taking place near the border Monday night.

The light, which appeared to be coming from the top of a mountain in Mexico, prompted the agents to take a closer look around an area near Jacumba where they had just arrested four men, one of whom had just crossed into the country from Mexico, said Border Patrol agent Richard Smith.

Agents found more than 362 pounds of marijuana stashed behind a rock in the area off Interstate 8, Smith said. The rocky stretch along the border is notorious for narcotics and human smuggling.

Agents believe the four men were connected with the seized drugs, Smith said.

Smugglers often point lasers from scopes mounted on weapons to intimidate agents by letting them know a gun is pointed at them, Smith said.

When the agent saw the light, he called for a canine unit to search the area and the dog turned up the drugs, Smith said.
The incident began around 8 p.m. as an agent on patrol not far from Jacumba saw a Ford F-150 and a GMC Suburban driving near the border, said Smith.

The agent saw the Ford stop to pick up a man who had illegally entered the country and stopped to arrest him as well as two men in the truck.

He called for another agent who stopped and arrested the driver of the Suburban, Smith said.

As they were taking the men into custody, the agent saw the red laser coming from Mexico. After about an hour search, the dog located the drugs inside seven military-style duffel bags and an onion bag, Smith said.

The drugs and the men were turned over to Drug Enforcement Agency officials. Two of the men were U.S. citizens and two were Mexican citizens, Smith said.

[xnvyflyer]

I know BP has thier own night shift helicopter but I think we'll head out that way every so often as well. It's friggin dark out in the middle of nowhereville.

[MacLean]

Lines and Shadows, indeed.

[Willowdared]

I know BP has thier own night shift helicopter but I think we'll head out that way every so often as well. It's friggin dark out in the middle of nowhereville.

Kinda makes the bitching about BP pepper spraying over the border look tame, doesn't it?

[Morris]

That is rugged, rural and deadly wild lands out there. Even as kids in the 70s, you learned to stay out of there unless you were in a large group.