Fabens, Texas – Another busy weekend for U.S. Border Patrol Agents took place in west Texas and New Mexico after they seized 230 pounds of marijuana and arrested a convicted sexual offender of a minor.
On April 19th, Agents in Fabens utilized night vision technology to spot four smugglers with backpacks climbing over the pedestrian fence into the United States. Two of the smugglers decided to return south back to Mexico when Border Patrol Agents responded to the area. The other two subjects attempted to conceal themselves, along with almost $100,000 in marijuana in a dried up canal, but were apprehended. The two subjects were identified as 29-year-old Jorge Vega Luke, of Mexico, and 22-year-old Adrian Moreno Garcia, also from Mexico. The two smugglers, along with the 121 pounds of marijuana, were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration in El Paso, Texas pending prosecution.
One-hundred miles away the day before in Deming-New Mexico, 47-year-old Andres Reyes Granados, of Mexico, was arrested immediately after entering the country illegally. Border Patrol Agents from the Deming Horse Patrol Unit came across footprints headed north from the Mexico/U.S. International boundary. They tracked the foot-sign about a mile north until they encountered seven subjects from Mexico. Among the group was Reyes Granados, a convicted child sex-offender with a criminal record. It was later revealed that that he was previously convicted for “Lewd or Lascivious Acts-with-a Child Under 14-Years of Age”, in California. Reyes Granados will be held pending criminal and removal proceedings.
Later that afternoon, Horse Patrol Agents from the Deming Station also tracked footprints of three subjects west of the Columbus International Port of Entry in New Mexico. The Agents discovered two bundles of marijuana concealed in the desert brush. Following the tracks, Agents found three subjects sleeping between several yucca plants, with one subject laying on top of a third bundle of marijuana. The three subjects were identified as 25-year-old Luis Alfonso Paredes Grijalva, of Mexico; 21-year- old Miguel Angel Ochoa Espinoza, of Mexico; and 19-year-old Jose Alfredo Perez-Duran from Mexico. The load of marijuana weighed 108.8 pounds, valued at $87,040. The marijuana and drug smugglers were taken into custody and turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration in Las Cruces, New Mexico, pending criminal prosecution.
These incidents demonstrate how vigilance by U.S. Border Patrol Agents and the ability to rapidly respond to areas is combating the furtherance of illicit drugs and sex offenders into our community, while keeping our nation’s borders safe.