Otay Mesa

U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested three men Tuesday and seized 846 pounds of marijuana in Otay Mesa several yards north of the U.S.-Mexico border, an agency spokesman said.

Arrested on suspicion of felony importation of marijuana and illegal entry into the United States were Rafael Ramos-Soto, 30; Oscar Cadena-Ramirez, 31, and Benito Sanchez-Cantu, 40, all residents of Tijuana, said Ted Swofford, a Border Patrol spokesman.

The three were turned over to Operation Alliance--an anti-narcotics joint task force consisting of the Border Patrol, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Customs Service and several local agencies--for investigation and possible prosecution, he said. The men are being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center downtown.

Border police observed four men carrying large bags from a van south of the border to a point just inside the United States about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, Swofford said. Agents arrested three of them and seized 23 duffel bags containing marijuana. There are no leads on the fourth man, who escaped on foot into Mexico, he said. Mexican police searched the van but found it empty.

Since Oct. 1, the Border Patrol has confiscated 8,000 pounds of marijuana.

“We have seized more marijuana in the last three months than we did in all of last (fiscal) year,” Swofford said.

From Oct. 1, 1989, through Sept. 30, 1990, the seizures amounted to 6,500 pounds, he said.

On Monday, two men were arrested on suspicion of importing marijuana after 16 large duffel bags containing more than 1,800 pounds of the drug were discovered a short distance from them on a Coronado beach, police there said.