On Tuesday, U.S. Border Patrol agents from Yuma Sector’s Yuma Station foiled a smuggling attempt today when suspects attempting to drive a vehicle over the border fence fell prey to their own devices.
Just after midnight this morning, agents patrolling in the Imperial Sand Dunes area encountered a silver Jeep Cherokee attempting to drive over the international border fence using a make-shift ramp that was not quite up to the task. When the vehicle made it to the top of the ramp, it became “high centered.”
As agents arrived on scene, two subjects fled into Mexico. After removing the Jeep from fence, agents seized both the vehicle and the ramps.
The fence is approximately 14 feet high where the would-be smugglers attempted to illegally drive across the border. In 2007, Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar was killed near the same area when he was deliberately struck by a vehicle while attempting to deploy a controlled tire deflation device.
A Yuma woman was arrested Friday morning for attempting to smuggle $598,000 worth of cocaine into the United States.
After a narcotics detection canine alerted to the presence of drugs in a vehicle, CBP officers found 25 packages of cocaine weighing nearly 66 pounds.
Customs and Border Protection officers referred Patricia Contreras, 30, for additional inspection of her Honda SUV. After a narcotics detection canine alerted to the presence of drugs, officers found 25 packages of cocaine weighing nearly 66 pounds.
The drugs and vehicle were seized and Contreras was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.