Border Patrol Seizes Cocaine Worth Millions

A high-speed chase by Border Patrol agents after a man suspected of crossing the U.S.-Mexican border illegally Sunday morning led to the discovery of 868 pounds of cocaine worth millions of dollars, authorities said.

Border Patrol agents first stopped a pickup truck about 10 a.m. near the Tecate border on suspicion of crossing the border illegally, Border Patrol spokesman Mike Nicley said. When the agents walked up to the truck, he said, the driver sped away.

The truck headed south on Interstate 805 at 80 miles an hour, then east on California 117 before going south on Otay Mesa Road, Nicley said. The driver then drove onto Otay Mesa, southbound into an area known as Dead Man’s Canyon.

About 700 yards from the border, the truck stopped and the driver started to run toward Mexico, according to Nicley.

The suspect, Jose Luis Ramirez-Ramirez, 30, of San Diego was caught by Border Patrol agents, who found a special compartment beneath the vehicle containing the cocaine. The wholesale value of the cache was estimated at $8.6 million.

Nicley described Ramirez-Ramirez as a Mexican alien who has filed for amnesty. He was taken to the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he is being held on suspicion of various narcotics and traffic charges, a jail spokeswoman said.