LAS CRUCES: Border Patrol Agents in New Mexico made several controlled substance seizures valued more than $230,000 in marijuana, and recovered a stolen vehicle from the United States Border Patrol Traffic Checkpoint near Las Cruces.
Agents assigned to the Las Cruces checkpoints encountered a vehicle attempting to speed past an agent in an effort to avoid inspection. Once the vehicle came to a stop, 33-year old Ramon Rojas-Guerrero from Mexico readily admitted to being in the country illegally. After further investigation, it was discovered that Rojas Guerrero had been previously deported, and the white Chevy Equinox he was driving had been reported stolen out of Port Arthur, Texas. The vehicle was turned over to New Mexico State Police, and Rojas-Guerrero will be pending prosecution for his illegal re-entry into the country.
Border Patrol Agents located the footprints of several suspected illegal immigrants north of Interstate 10. As the Agents followed the tracks, they heard voices from afar, and saw five individuals run out from the desert brush. Agents did a search of the immediate area and located four burlap-wrapped backpacks where the individuals were hiding. When Agents approached them, the smugglers admitted to being Nationals of Mexico, and claimed to have illegally entered the US with bundles of marijuana.
39-year old Mexican Citizen Jorge Alonso Beltran-Castro, and 39-year old Carlos Anaya-Vila, also of Mexico, both had previous immigration violations and criminal histories involving drug-related violations. 36-year old Gustavo Beltran-Felix’s record revealed he was also a Mexican Citizen with multiple immigration violations. 38-year old Juan Luis Sandoval-Valdez, of Mexico, had no prior criminal history, but had been voluntarily returned to Mexico on several occasions. The collective weight of the four backpacks was 205 pounds of marijuana, with an estimated street value of $164,000.
The previous morning, Deming Border Patrol Agents encountered two subjects in possession of two makeshift burlap backpacks a few miles north of New Mexico State Road 9.
Both subjects were first spotted by an Agent utilizing night vision technology, which later identified 30-year old Marcos Torres Perez, of Mexico, and a 16-year old companion. The total weight of the two backpacks they were carrying was 88.6 lbs. of marijuana, valued at nearly $80,000. The marijuana and adult subject were both turned over to the DEA in Las Cruces for prosecution.
“The southern New Mexico corridor continues to present challenges for the men and women of the El Paso Sector, but fortunately the agents have been making a significant difference in deterring illicit activity in those areas,” Chief Patrol Agent Jeffrey D. Self said.
