CAMPO : Border Agents Seize 1 Ton of Marijuana

U.S. Border Patrol agents seized more than a ton of marijuana Sunday from an abandoned vehicle east of Campo, adding to the growing quantity of illicit drugs being confiscated along the international boundary in San Diego County, officials said.

Since Oct. 1, Border Patrol agents based in San Diego have confiscated 37,400 pounds of marijuana, more than 2 1/2 times the 13,675 pounds confiscated during the same period a year ago, said Michael D. Gregg, a Border Patrol spokesman in San Diego. Cocaine seizures have increased more than tenfold during that time, to 6,947 pounds, Gregg said.

Drug traffickers, seeking new routes and lesser law enforcement presence, have increasingly moved their activities eastward, toward the Campo area, according to Border Patrol officials, who say the erection of a metal fence along the border in western San Diego County has helped push the traffickers east.

The latest seizure--2,053 pounds of marijuana valued at more than $2 million--was discovered in a pickup truck south of the Boulevard area Sunday afternoon, said Gregg, the patrol spokesman. Two smugglers escaped after abandoning the pickup on a dirt road and running back toward Mexico after a 10-minute car chase that started on westbound Interstate 8, Gregg said.

During the pursuit along California 80, Gregg said, one of the smugglers tossed stones from the passenger seat at pursuing patrol officers, shattering the windshield of one patrol vehicle and denting another. No one was hurt, Gregg said.