TUCSON — Federal officials say agents in the U.S. Border Patrol's Tucson sector have seized a record 1 million pounds of marijuana, with an estimated street value of $800 million, so far this fiscal year.
The seizures during the first 9½ months of fiscal 2009, which began Oct. 1, are the most ever in a single sector of the Border Patrol.
The Tucson sector, covering 260 miles of the Mexican border from New Mexico to Yuma County, is the nation's busiest portion of the 2,000-mile southwest border for smuggling of illegal immigrants and marijuana.
In a statement Tuesday, Tucson Sector Chief Robert Gilbert attributed the success to the tireless efforts and unyielding work ethic of his agents and the support and cooperation of local, state and federal law enforcement partners.
