U.S. Border Patrol agents intercepted a Mexican national who was attempting to swim to California with a big sack of cartel weed. The capture occurred late on Thursday, Sept. 19, but wasn't made public until Sept. 24, when authorities issued a press release on the incident.
Agents were apparently conducting boat operations at 11 p.m. when they spotted a man floating on something about 1 mile north of the U.S.-Mexico border and approximately 600 yards offshore. “When agents questioned the man regarding his citizenship, he stated that he was a Mexican national and did not have documents to be in the U.S.,” the press release states. “The 55-year-old man was arrested and taken to a nearby Border Patrol station for processing. A search of the man's duffle bag revealed seven bundles of marijuana. The marijuana weighed 52.43 pounds and had an estimated street value of $23,594.”
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Just a few days later, at about 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 25, agents made another bust, this time on Interstate 15. According to the Border Patrol, this man was also a “Mexican national,” and he was driving erratically. After searching the vehicle, authorities found $43,000 in cash in a box hidden in a floor panel.
A few hours after that, at 4:30 p.m., the Border Patrol intercepted yet another Mexican dude, this time as he attempted to drive north through the checkpoint at San Clemente. The 41-year-old driver was allegedly displaying suspicious behavior, so they diverted him for a secondary inspection. After a dog sniffed the rig and showed interest, a search turned up “two black garbage bags filled with bundles of marijuana. The 24 bundles weighed 86.42 pounds and had an estimated street value of $69,136.”
According to the Border Patrol, “the man and narcotics were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration for further investigation” and the “vehicle was seized by the U.S. Border Patrol.”
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Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).