Sheriff’s Drug Team Makes Bust

A new Sheriff’s Department narcotics team for East County, in conjunction with the Border Patrol, is targeting drug smugglers near the border, officials announced Wednesday.

The two law enforcement agencies teamed up Tuesday to seize nearly a ton of marijuana from a truck that had just crossed the U.S.-Mexico border near Boulevard, authorities said.

The sheriff’s team, which began working three days ago, was planned three months ago to work East County, where much of the drug smuggling has moved since a steel border fence was put up near Tijuana, said sheriff’s spokesman Dan Greenblat.

“Now the (smugglers) are being forced into the back country, trying to do an end run around the fence,” Greenblat said. He said that, before the fence was built, smugglers would simply cut a cable marking the border and drive into the United States from Mexico.

The county team is “designated to work with federal agents such as the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) and Border Patrol,” pooling resources and sharing information, Greenblat said. The team is primarily funded with a “high-intensity drug trafficking area” federal grant, although some county money is used too, he said.

During their first seizure Tuesday, the sheriff’s team and Border Patrol agents chased a pickup truck, officials said. The driver pulled over and he and a passenger ran from the truck into the rugged desert-like terrain. The driver, a 29-year-old man who is suspected of entering the United States illegally, was found hiding in heavy underbrush.

The man, whose name was not released, is being charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a Border Patrol spokesman said.

The pickup had stolen plates, and was packed with 1,970 pounds of marijuana, officials said.