see also: in July 2005 Press Releases:   Companies Using Wood Packaging Material to Import Their Goods: Enforcement Begins on September 16   CBP Border Patrol Agents Intercept Drug Cache   CBP Border Patrol Agents Find 74 Pounds of Cocaine   CBP Border Patrol Finds Smuggling Victim Abandoned in Desert   Millennium Bomber Sentenced to 22 Years   $2.5 M Worth in Marijuana Seized in Big Bend National Forest   Container Security Initiative Port of Kaohsiung is Operational ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

contacts for this news release

Marfa, Texas – A Pecos, Texas drug smuggler was unable to elude Border Patrol Agents from the Marfa Station on July 14, 2005, as he tried to get a load of marijuana into the country.

Agents were alerted by a rancher to a vehicle on his property south of Marfa. Agents located a 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche with a flat tire. The vehicle contained 2,200 pounds of marijuana with an estimated value of $1.7 million.

CBP Border Patrol Marfa Sector agents seized 2,200 pounds of marijuana on July 14, on a ranch south of Marfa. The drugs have an estimated value of $1.7 million.

Agents followed footprints and found the alleged driver of the vehicle hiding about 400 yards away. The man, a U.S. Citizen had the keys to the vehicle in his pocket. The driver, the vehicle and the drugs were turned over to Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Since January 1, 2005, Agents of the Marfa Sector have seized over $42 million in drugs including over 46,000 pounds of marijuana. The Sector has also apprehended 6,480 illegal aliens during the same period.

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.