LUKEVILLE, AZ -- U.S. Border Patrol agents seized several large bundles of marijuana after tracking a group of suspected drug smugglers in a remote area of southern Arizona Tuesday night.
Border Patrol agents assigned to the Yuma Sector's forward operating base, Camp Grip, reportedly detected the entry of nine people about 30 miles west of Lukeville.
When agents approached the group, the suspected smugglers apparently dropped several burlap sacks, which had been modified into backpacks, and ran into the mountains.
Agents secured the contraband and continued tracking the group, but they later determined that the group returned to Mexico, according to a Border Patrol official.
Agents reportedly seized a total of eight burlap sacks containing more than 360 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $294,880. The marijuana was turned over to the Yuma County Sheriff's Office.
This is apparently the third time in the past week that drug smugglers attempted to sneak their contraband into the Yuma Sector using backpacks, but were stopped by Border Patrol agents.
Camp Grip is Yuma Sector's tactically deployed forward operating base that is designed to gain operational control of the remote border area between Yuma and Tucson Sectors.
