TUCSON, Ariz. – U.S. Border Patrol agents have found more than two tons of marijuana inside camouflaged trucks west of Casa Grande.
The marijuana was discovered Sunday after a Bureau of Land Management ranger spotted two trucks near the town of Stanfield, said Rob Daniels, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman.
The Border Patrol joined the pursuit, and the drivers of the camouflaged trucks eventually bailed out and fled into the desert, Daniels said. The ranger wasn't injured.
Inside the trucks, agents found 253 bundles of marijuana weighing 4,660 pounds and a loaded .45 pistol. The marijuana has an estimated value of $4.6 million.
Through Jan. 31, the latest figures the agency releases, marijuana seizures were up 31 percent in the Tucson Sector for fiscal year 2007. Seizures in fiscal year 2006 broke all previous records.
"It clearly has not slowed down, and we really don't expect any kind of a slow down whatsoever," Daniels said. "We're definitely still being tested."
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