Drug crash brings pot seizures to 13,000 pounds
By Shawn Whisman
For The Alpine Sun
CAMPO — Agents with Customs and Border Protection seized 551 pound of marijuana around 8 a.m. Monday, Dec. 19, after a low speed chase that originated in Boulevard and ended in Campo.
The white Ford truck was disguised as an SDG&E vehicle, said Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Dora Doyle, and was first observed moving south on Jewel Valley Road near the U.S.-Mexico border.
According to its license plate, the truck belonged to a private citizen, and not to the electric company. Doyle said agents attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver failed to yield. The pursuit continued on westbound I-8 until the driver exited at Buckman Springs Road and crashed.
A Customs and Border Protection helicopter maintained a constant watch on the driver from the time that he exited the vehicle until he was caught by pursuing agents, Doyle said.
The driver sustained minor injuries in the crash. He was airlifted to a local hospital, where he was treated and taken into custody by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Drug smuggling has reached epic proportions in this small mountain community. The area where this incident originated is isolated from view by all but the agents who are assigned to keep watch there. There are few houses or buildings nearby on either side of the border.
There is, however, a sufficient network of roads to allow travel in and out of the area on both sides of the fence and Senior Patrol Agent Nicholas Coates said marijuana seizures are up this fiscal year to 13,000 pounds from 1,688 pounds.
That is seven times what was intercepted by this time last year. The fiscal year began on Oct. 1.
Coates went on to say there is a plan to install and monitor 30 remote viewing cameras in San Diego Sector.
The first 11 of these camera systems will be installed in the western side of the sector, starting from the ocean, by spring of 2006, Coates said. The remainder are expected to be in place along the border in the East County by the end of 2007.
This is not the first time that Mexican drug smugglers have used a disguised vehicle to attempt to slip past Border Patrol agents.Both local deputies and border agents have stopped such vehicles, and one even had people stuffed into separate tool compartments in the truck.
Similar incidents have been logged in Arizona, where the drug smuggling has increased drastically in recent years.
Large expanses of the border are unguarded for many hours a day, making it difficult for officials to quantify how many smuggling attempts are actually made — and how many are successful.
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