TUCSON – Smugglers got stuck in an area with limited infrastructure according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
U.S. Border Patrol agents and Mexican authorities worked together to seize a drug smuggling vehicle in a remote area of the Sonoran Desert.
After a failed attempt to drive over a makeshift ramp the smugglers fled into Mexico with the suspected marijuana.
U.S. Border Patrol agents patrolling the desert near the Yuma-Maricopa county line Wednesday discovered tracks from an off-road vehicle on protected land approximately four miles north of the international border, said a CBP release.
Air and Marine Operations helicopter crew began seeking the vehicle, as well as additional Border Patrol agents on all-terrain vehicles.
The helicopter crew spotted a modified Jeep Cherokee, containing 11 people and several suspected bundles of marijuana speeding south toward the border, the CBP release said.
U.S. agents notified Mexican officials who deployed military law enforcement to the area.
No suspects or narcotics were found by Mexican authorities, who had no trouble locating the vehicle and seizing it. It is unclear what the Mexican authorities were planning to do with the vehicle.
Border Patrol agents found the location where the vehicle initially made entry into the U.S., and recovered two additional homemade vehicle ramps.