Border Patrol seizes 678 pounds of marijuana and arrests illegal alien

Yuma Sun:

U.S. Border Patrol agents seized 678 pounds of marijuana Tuesday evening near Yuma after they saw a loaded pickup truck drive across the border from Mexico.

The driver of the Chevrolet pickup, identified as a 32-year-old Mexican national who illegally entered the country, was taken into custody. His name was not released.

The truck was stopped on County 22nd Street and Avenue 1E after agents saw it cross the border near County 22nd Street and Avenue 2E at about 6 p.m., said Joe Brigman, spokesman for the patrol's Yuma sector.

In the bed of the vehicle, concealed under sheets of plywood, agents found 44 bundles of marijuana with an estimated street value of $542,000, Brigman said.

The driver had been previously deported and was a known gang member in Cicero, Ill., near Chicago, said Brigman.

Border Patrol agents turned the vehicle, the marijuana and the driver over to the Drug Enforcement Administration for further investigation.

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