|
Only have a minute? Listen instead
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
A high-speed chase for the driver of a pickup truck suspected of smuggling led border agents and state troopers to the Rio Grande near Brownsville on Tuesday, ending with the suspect driving into the river, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a news release.
Border Patrol agents stationed at Fort Brown seized more than 480 pounds of marijuana from the vehicle after the pursuit.
Agents had initially tried to conduct an immigration inspection of the vehicle, a white Chevrolet Silverado, because authorities believed it was either occupied by people illegally in the country.
The driver failed to yield, which prompted agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers engaging in a vehicle to pursue the pickup truck, according to the release.
CBP says the truck drove through a fence and hit a Border Patrol vehicle before driving into the Rio Grande, where the driver was observed to have crossed into Mexico after leaving behind 22 bundles of marijuana in the truck.
The marijuana, which was estimated to weigh over 480 pounds, is valued at about $400,000, according to CBP.
Agents believe the truck was ferried across the river.
