Suspected drug smugglers get stuck trying to drive over U.S.-Mexico border fence
A silver Jeep Cherokee that suspected smugglers were attempting to drive over the U.S.-Mexico border fence is stuck at the top of a makeshift ramp Oct. 31, 2012, near Yuma, Ariz., in this picture provided by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency. / AP Photo/U.S. Customs and Border Protection
YUMA, Ariz. Suspected smugglers who tried to use ramps to drive an SUV over a 14-foot-tall border fence had to abandon their plan when the Jeep became stuck on top of the barrier, authorities said Wednesday.
Agents patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border near the Imperial Sand Dunes in California's southeast corner spotted the Jeep Cherokee teetering atop the fence early Tuesday, Border Patrol spokesman Spencer Tippets said. The vehicle was perched about five miles west of the Colorado River and the Arizona state line.
The Jeep was spotted just after midnight, CBS Yuma affiliate KSWT-TV reports.
Two smugglers on the Mexican side of the border were trying to free the Jeep when the agents approached, Tippets said. They ran further into Mexico and escaped.
The Jeep was empty, but agents said it was probably filled with contraband like bales of marijuana before it got high-centered atop the fence.
The smugglers had built ramps to drive up and over the fence, something that has been tried at least once before. In April 2011, agents found a truck that had ramps built onto it and had driven up to the border fence. A pickup had driven up and over the fence, but it was spotted and its occupants were captured, Tippets said.
The agency's Yuma sector has seen a 95 percent reduction in human smuggling in recent years, freeing up agents to focus on drug smugglers.
"Because of how successful we are we don't have all the clutter like we had in years past," Tippets said. "Now that all the clutter is gone, we're able to focus on things that are bigger threats."
The terrain in western Arizona and eastern California has little vegetation and is much less rugged than the land in southeastern Arizona, so smugglers have a harder time making it into the U.S. without being spotted.
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Man that is low class.
Go find somebody who plays Florida State or Univ Fla or SEC
basketball or football they'll put you onto the
the green green goods.
1. What made them think that this would work with that sharp of an angle on their "ramp?"
2. How much of this has gone on without our knowledge? (as in successful attempts)
Paranoid old men in the federal government keep marijuana illegal and make your children LESS safe!
Stop the excuses, Stop complaining about our economy. I work in construction, there are no white people working.
Obama has enabled the drug traffic, the gun running, the people smuggling.......and he intends to continue enabling those things.
Obama is clearly, not for, reducing crime in America.
Just take AZ as an example of a state that wanted to do something about the problem of illegal immigration, because the federal governemtn refused to do their job....what happened ? Obama came down on AZ, like a ton of bricks, called Holder....suing them, blocking them....."Obama....how dare you restrict the flow of my new voters"