Border Patrol agents seize pot, arrest 11

  Border Patrol agents from Yuma Sector's Wellton station had to follow footprints in eastern Yuma County throughout the night before seizing 695 pounds of marijuana and arresting 11 suspected "backpacking" smugglers in two separate incidents Monday.

  The pot from the two seizures had a combined total value of more than $500,000.

  In both cases, the smugglers crossed the border with bundles of the pot strapped to their backs and attempted to walk across the desert, according to Agent Karla Cerasco of the Yuma Sector Public Affairs.

  "(The smugglers) could have been walking for more than a day before our agents came across their tracks," Cerasco said. "There are some areas out there where it is about 60 miles before you hit a freeway."

  In the first incident, Cerasco said, agents assigned to the Wellton station began tracking the footprints of several individuals in the desert east of Tacna about 1:30 p.m.

  The individuals also appeared to be wearing upholstery padding and carpet material on their feet in an attempt to disguise their tracks.

  "Agents are also trained to recognize a pattern of disturbance on the ground," Cerasco said.

  The trail led agents to an area just south of Interstate 8, where agents found six bundles  of marijuana with a total combined weight of 248 pounds.

  Cerasco said one subject was arrested at the scene, and agents determined the others had been picked up earlier by a vehicle.

  That same morning, at about 3 a.m., Wellton station agents from the forward operating base Camp Grip discovered the footprints of 10 individuals entering the United States from Mexico in an area near the Pima County line.

  The agents tracked the subjects for several miles before finding bundles of marijuana with a total weight of 447 pounds and three individuals.

  With help from CBP Air and Marine helicopter pilots, the agents quickly located and arrested the remaining seven individuals.

  The 248 pounds of marijuana, which had an estimated value of $198,400, and the individual apprehended near the freeway were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

  The 447 pounds of marijuana, with an estimated value of $357,600, and the ten suspects apprehended near Camp Grip were turned over to the Pima County Narcotics Task Force.

  "They are going to try and bring their product into the country any way possible and this is one of the means they are using now," Ben Vik, agent with the Yuma Sector Public Affairs, said of the backpackers.

  The Wellton station has seized nearly 11,000 pounds of marijuana to date in fiscal year 2009.

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James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854.