YUMA, AZ -- Border Patrol agents used tire deflation to disable the vehicle of some drug smugglers who abandoned their stolen truck early Tuesday and left behind nearly 1,200 pounds of marijuana.
Authorities say the 1,194 pounds of marijuana was wrapped into 40 bundles and had a street value of about $955,000.
Agents from the Wellton station discovered tire tracks leading way from the international border fence about 60 miles east of Yuma around 1 a.m. and say they soon spotted the truck using night vision equipment.
The agents say they deploying a deflation device on a road and deflated three of the truck's tires, but the driver was able to continue driving for about two miles through the desert before abandoning it.
Authorities say the driver and a passenger fled into the rugged mountain terrain.
Agents later learned that the drug smugglers had cut through the heavy steel bollard fence to make entry into the United States.
