Posted on 05/11/2002 6:46:24 AM PDT by FITZ
A routine traffic stop by a state trooper led to the seizure of more than 1,600 pounds of marijuana and 24.3 pounds of cocaine, and the arrest of three undocumented immigrants from Mexico, officials said.
Rene Obregon, 21, Bernardo Santillana, 59, and a 17-year-old man were arrested Wednesday afternoon by troopers from the Texas Department of Public Safety's Narcotics Service. The three men were charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to deliver more than 400 grams, and with possession of marijuana more than 50 but less than 2,000 pounds.
About 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, a highway patrol officer attempted to stop a Ford Explorer driven by Obregon just east of the Fabens offramp, said Lucila Torres, Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman.
"The reason the trooper attempted to stop him was because the driver had excessively dark tinted windows and the trooper couldn't see if the driver was wearing his seat belt," Torres said.
Across the state, law enforcers are on the lookout for seat-belt violations as part of the "Click it or ticket" program.
Obregon allegedly failed to stop, so the trooper turned on his siren and began chasing the Explorer. One of the Explorer's rear tires deflated during the pursuit, so Obregon exited at the Fabens offramp and drove south on Farm-to-Market Road 793. Obregon lost control of the vehicle at Farm-to-Market Road 793 and J Avenue. He then ran about two blocks before he was chased down and arrested, Torres said.
"In the vehicle we found 1,025 pounds of marijuana," Torres said. "After that incident we did a follow-up investigation and found out about a home in Fabens."
Troopers assigned to the Narcotics Service were reportedly given consent to search a home in the 200 block of West Main in Fabens, where they found 613 pounds of marijuana and 11 kilograms, or 24.3 pounds, of cocaine. Santillana and the teen were arrested at the home.
"This is just the beginning of an investigation. It may lead into something more," Torres said. "Sometimes a normal routine traffic stop leads to these kinds of seizures."
Laura Cruz may be reached at lcruz@elpasotimes.com
It's true: the drug cargo could just as easily have been bio-war agents,etc., etc., which may be why many states take an active part in "Homeland Security".
Did these guys have little paper notes pinned to their shirts saying, "If I am lost, please call Vicente Fox and he will come and get me?" I understand (the Belo papers would NEVER print anything that even hinted at an open border being a bad thing) that street drug prices keep going down while "quality" keeps going up. That means, for every one of the illegal alien drug haulers we catch, there are [how many?] we don't. SEAL THE FRIGGEN BORDER!!!
Seat belt laws are just another way to get the sheople accustomed to doing as they're told and yet another excuse for "Law enforcement" to perform warrantless searches on the population (IMHO), just like driver's license checkpoints where they look all over the inside of your car while they're "checking" your license! Welcome to the police states of Amerika.
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