Patrol arrests bike-riding smugglers

They might have thought they found a faster, easier way to carry marijuana into the United States, but four smugglers may have only complicated matters when they strapped loads of pot on their backs and tried to cross the border on bicycles over the weekend.

The four were arrested in the desert southeast of Wellton in rugged desert terrain that Yuma Sector Border Patrol spokesman Michael Bernacke described as not very conducive to bicycles.

"I would find it a lot easier to walk," Bernacke said.

The four smugglers and 189 pounds of pot they were carrying were turned over to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, the patrol said.

Drug smugglers and illegal aliens have used bicycles before to enter the country, Bernacke said, although bikes are not often seen in the Yuma sector.

"Aliens in the past have used bicycles to further themselves into the United States. (But) it's not a huge trend because most of them find the desert terrain is not conducive to bike riding."

Saturday's arrests came after two agents patrolling the Crater Mountain Range 61 miles southeast of Wellton about 11:30 a.m. found signs of an illegal border crossing, the release said.

The agents caught up with four smugglers riding the bikes, the patrol said.

The pot they had been carrying on their backs was valued at $151,200, the patrol said.

In a later interview with agents, one of the smugglers said an unknown person armed with a high-powered rifle and wearing military-style gear previously was shadowing him and three others to ensure they arrived safely across the border with the pot, patrol said.

Agents found no sign of the armed person, and Bernacke said agents suspect the alien's account of the person was a lie.

In the first two months of fiscal 2008 - October and November - the patrol has seized more than $4.2 million in marijuana in the Yuma Sector, which extends from the southeastern corner of California to the Yuma-Pima county line.

That's on pace with the seizure rate in fiscal 2007, when pot valued at $8.7 million was seized in the first four months of the year.