Calexico, California - Friday, El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Calexico Station arrested four individuals after discovering approximately 148 pounds of marijuana in a vehicle.

Shortly before 7 p.m., Border Patrol agents observed three men climb over the United States/ Mexico boundary fence.  Agents noticed the men were transporting large bundles suspected to contain narcotics, and monitored them as they traveled north towards Interstate 8.

As the men approached the freeway, agents observed a 2005 Pontiac Bonneville sedan stop on the eastbound lanes.  The three men subsequently loaded the bundles in the Pontiac and ran south towards Mexico.  A Border Patrol agent responded and apprehended two of the men, a 25-year-old and 37-year-old, both Mexican citizens, while the third man managed to climb the border fence and absconded into Mexico.

Border Patrol agents pulled the vehicle over at the Gordon’s Well road exit along Interstate 8, and encountered a 35-year-old male United States citizen driver, and his passenger, a 37-year-old female Mexican citizen.  Agents discovered that the six bundles in the vehicle’s back seat contained 148 pounds of marijuana, with an estimated value of more than $88,500.

The suspects, vehicle and marijuana were turned over to the Imperial County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force for further investigation.

Last fiscal year, El Centro Sector seized more than 5,700 pounds of marijuana.