| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Federal officials in San Diego arrest six Mexican men in marijuana bust
Thursday April 17, 2003SAN DIEGO (AP) Federal authorities arrested six Mexican men and seized 6,000 pounds of marijuana smuggled into the United States in a shipment of squid.
The arrests, announced Thursday, were made Monday after inspectors at the Port of Otay Mesa, in southeastern San Diego, found bundles of marijuana hidden in a squid shipment inside a tractor trailer.
Instead of immediately seizing the drugs and the truck's driver, federal officials decided to follow the truck to see if others involved in the operation could be apprehended, said Vince Bond, a spokesman for the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection.
Federal trailed the vehicle to a nearby truck stop, where it was backed into a waiting trailer. The driver was joined by several others who started to transfer bags between the vehicles.
The agents moved in and arrested the six men, Bond said.
``When we can, we will follow a vehicle and see where it goes,'' said Bond. ``If we can find more people involved in the distribution ring then we will arrest those individuals.''
More than 900 marijuana packages, valued at more than $3 million, were seized.
The suspects face drug charges and were awaiting arraignment at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
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