Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents seized more than 600 pounds of marijuana, worth an estimated $301,000, in two separate incidents.
Agents tracking suspected smugglers near Tacna arrested 13 individuals who later admitted to entering the U.S. illegally. Agents backtracked the suspects’ footprints and discovered nine makeshift backpacks consisting of 444 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated $222,000.
In a second incident, agents assigned to Wellton Station located and arrested two subjects carrying 158 pounds of marijuana, worth approximately $79,000, through the desert near Gila Bend.
Two days later Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents arrested nine individuals and seized 310 pounds of marijuana in two more separate incidents.
Wellton Station agents patrolling near Gila Bend observed a group of individuals walking through the desert south of Interstate 8. Agents arrived on scene and arrested seven subjects carrying large rectangular backpacks containing 257 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated $128,500.
In a later incident, Wellton Station agents located and arrested two more subjects walking northbound near Gila Bend. The men, attempting to conceal themselves in brush, each carried a rectangular backpack with a combined 53 pounds of marijuana worth $26,500.
All individuals and marijuana were transported to the for further processing.