EDINBURG, Texas (Border Report) — U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector recently disrupted five narcotic smuggling attempts, most of which involved the suspects abandoning the drugs and fleeing to Mexico, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced in a news release Thursday.
On Saturday afternoon, agents in San Benito arrested three alleged drug smugglers who had abandoned five bundles of marijuana weighing more than 110 pounds and worth an estimated $91,000, the release said.
On Monday night, agents in Rio Grande City, observed people crossing the Rio Grande illegally carrying bundles of marijuana. “As agents approached the group, the smugglers dropped the bundles and fled to Mexico,” the news release said. Agents located eight bundles of marijuana weighing more than 680 pounds and worth an estimated $546,000.
Also Monday night, agents working near Garciasville thwarted another smuggling attempt when another group of smugglers abandoned their cache of drugs and ran off to Mexico. Agents seized six bundles of marijuana weighing nearly 225 pounds and worth an estimated $180,000.
In both incidents on Monday, the Drug Enforcement Administration took custody of the narcotics.
On Tuesday, agents conducted a traffic stop in Brownsville, seized more than 245 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated $199,000. That day, at the checkpoint in Falfurrias, agents arrested a U.S. citizen who was bringing in 170 pounds worth of marijuana worth $138,000 in his vehicle, agents said. A canine patrol unit alerted agents to the drugs.
And on Wednesday night, agents arrested three people walking north of the Rio Grande carrying bundles of narcotics near Bluetown. The suspects abandoned the narcotics and fled to Mexico. Agents recovered 154 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated $123,000.
