Hourly Update

Agents seize nearly 3,000 pounds of pot, find more bodies in the desert

Border Patrol agents seized nearly 3,000 pounds of marijuana in Nogales and discovered the body of an illegal border crosser on the Tohono O'odham Reservation Thursday night. The drug bust started when agents spotted a 2006 Ford F250 cross the border west of Nogales, said Richard DeWitt, Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman. They monitored the truck's movement until it parked behind a mall in Nogales, he said. At 8 p.m., agents arrived to the parking lot and found 125 bundles of marijuana weighing 2,931 pounds inside the truck, which was reported stolen out of Tucson, he said. No one was arrested. By the time agents arrived to the truck, the people inside had already left, he said. From Oct. 1 through the end of June, the agency had seized 710,337 pounds of marijuana, 34 percent more than at the same time in 2006, agency numbers show. Meanwhile, at 7:30 p.m., about 70 miles southwest of Tucson, an agent found the body of an adult male illegal border crosser, DeWitt said. There was no identification found with the body, which was located about 10 miles southwest of Sells, he said. On Wednesday, agents found the decomposing body of an adult male east of the Naco port of entry, about 1/3 of a mile north of the border, said Carol Capas, Cochise County Sheriffs spokeswoman. He was found on his back, fully clothed but with no identification, she said. The summer heat - Thursday was the 37th straight day of 100-degree temperatures in the Tucson area - has taken its toll on illegal entrants. The Border Patrol has recovered at least 19 bodies in the Tucson Sector in July, bringing its fiscal-year total to at least 135. From Oct. 1 through June, the agency had reported 116 border deaths in the Tucson Sector, down slightly from the 119 at the same time the year before. The sector runs from New Mexico to the Yuma County line. The number of border deaths is higher, according to records kept by the Pima and Cochise County medical examiners. Combined, those agencies have handled 180 bodies of illegal border crossers from Oct. 1 through July 18. - Brady McCombs