see also: in March 2007 News Releases:   SBInet Completes Test of First Mobile Sensor Tower   Nogales Border Patrol Seizes 6 Tons of Marijuana from Garbage Truck   El Paso CBP Officers Make Largest Drug Bust In 2 Years   CBP Seizes $709,291 in Undeclared Currency at Laredo Port of Entry   Border Patrol Seizes $13 Million in Cocaine Near Hidalgo, Texas   El Paso CBP Offers Tips For Quick, Safe Easter Holiday Border Crossings   Border Patrol Assists Man Bitten by Snake ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

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Tucson, Ariz. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol agents assigned to Tucson Sector arrested 45 illegal aliens in and around a parked school bus.

On March 9, at 11 p.m., agents assigned to the Wilcox Border Patrol station responded to a request for assistance with a vehicle stop at the intersection of 4th Street and Ocotillo Street, from the Benson, Arizona Police Department. The Agents arrived and began to help search for two or three subjects who fled on foot.

An agent then deployed a mobile infrared scope to look for the absconders. The agent spotted a school bus parked south of Ocotillo Street and observed groups of six to 10 people exiting the bus. Several agents approached the bus on foot and found five illegal aliens on the bus. A search of the immediate area near the school bus revealed 40 more illegal aliens for a total of 45.

Records checks indicated that the bus was not currently registered to any school or organization. The bus was also bearing a fictitious government license plate.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.