ROMA, Texas – Border Patrol agents with the Rio Grande Valley sector seized cocaine worth more than $1.6 million Sunday evening in Roma, Texas.
According to a news release issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agents observed multiple subjects raft across the river from Mexico and walk toward a neighborhood, stopping to load bags into two vehicles that approached the area.
The subjects began running back toward the river, however, when agents responded, and a National Guard aircraft indicated that roughly 40 people were fleeing back toward Mexico from the U.S. riverbanks.
According to the news release, the driver of one of the two vehicles absconded from the GMC Yukon while it was still running, which crashed through a property fence before agents could disable it. Agents discovered two backpacks inside the abandoned Yukon containing a combined more than 50 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $1.6 million.
The Yukon’s driver was apprehended a short while later and was taken into custody by the Starr County Sheriff’s Office, which also seized the Yukon and the narcotics. Neither the second vehicle nor its driver was located, the agency stated.
