About 1,000 pounds of pot found at checkpoint
Potheads will soon be wondering where their weed went, thanks to agents from the U.S. Border Patrol.
Agents at the U.S. 70 checkpoint made a huge bust Tuesday and in the process, a wanted man and his accomplice were captured.
According to a press release from the Border Patrol, the marijuana was located in a 1996 Class A Manor motor home, pulling a 2002 Ford F-150 pick up truck which were stopped at approximately 4:30 a.m. Tuesday. The motor home was stopped for routine inspection at the checkpoint, the press release said. When the driver of the motor home, 53-year-old Richard Garza, a U.S. citizen, residing in El Paso, they found his responses to questions to be inconsistent and sent Garza and his vehicle to the secondary inspection point.
At the secondary inspection point, agents got permission to search the inside of the motor home and found a second subject who was later identified as Francisco Javier Guerrero-Aguilera, a Mexican national from Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Mexico, according to the release. This subject was found hiding in the rear bedroom of the vehicle and it was found to be in the United States illegally.
Agents continued the search of both the motor home and the pick up truck, the release said, leading to the discovery of several bundles of marijuana hidden in boxes located in the luggage compartment. More bundles were stuffed into the back seat of the pick up truck, where it was placed among paintings.
In the end, 584 bundles of marijuana were taken from the vehicles, weighing a total of 990.72 pounds. The value of the drugs is estimated at $792,576.
*******While looking into the history of the driver with what agents call a “biometric records check,” it was found that Garza was wanted by the U.S. Marshal’s Service for possession of a controlled substance.*******
Both subjects, the marijuana and the vehicles were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Agency in Las Cruces for prosecution.
As of Tuesday, agents in the El Paso sector, of which the U.S. 70 checkpoint is a part, have made 787 drug seizures, valued at $130.1 million.
alamogordonews.com |
