Joint Border Patrol – Air and Marine Operations (AMO) Effort
November 22, 2016
A joint operational effort by the U.S. Border Patrol and Air and Marine Operations (AMO) netted a major haul of marijuana that was seized near Nogales after it was abandoned by fleeing drug smugglers.
On Monday, November 14, Border Patrol video surveillance operators spotted a group of 35 individuals with backpacks who had crossed the international border on foot near Nogales, Arizona.
A helicopter and crew from the Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) were dispatched to the area, and when the backpacking border crossers saw the aircraft they dropped the packages they were carrying and ran back across the border to an uncertain future in Mexico.
Agents recovered 46 wrapped bundles of marijuana, each weighing approximately 24 pounds. The total haul for the cross-border drug smuggling interdiction was more than 1,100 pounds of the drug, valued at $550,000.
This was a good example of a multifunctional effort utilizing technology and ground-air resources to thwart drug smuggling at the Nogales international border.
Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection