Bizarre busts : US Border Patrol bizarre attempts at smuggling people and drugs

[Ginchiyo Tachibana]

In 2006, an image made headlines showing a man sewn into a car seat in an attempt to illegally cross the Mexican/U.S. border. Now U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) have shared images of some of their most bizarre busts in the war on the smuggling of people and drugs into America.

Figures from 1 October 2009 to April of this year show customs officers at the six crossings along the California/Mexico border have seized:

85,479 lbs of marijuana

4,180 lbs of cocaine

2,977 lbs of methamphetamine

400 lbs of heroin.

During the same period, they stopped 23,929 illegal immigrants from crossing into America

A woman was arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border on Dec. 17, 2009, when federal officers staffing San Ysidro Port of Entry found a nine-pound stash of marijuana inside her daughter's pushchair.

Two people hidden in the engine compartment of a van

In April 2010, Border agents seized 17 fighting birds from a U.S. citizen who was trying to smuggle them across the San Ysidro border into Mexico. The man had encased the birds in nylon stockings to hide them and keep them quiet


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[Ginchiyo Tachibana]

The garden hose reels were in the back of a landscaper's truck, along with gardening tools. Marijuana was discovered hidden inside the reels.

Illegal immigrants found in compartments in the floor of a car

In June 2009, a 30-year-old Mexican man was arrested while trying to smuggle 24 pounds of marijuana ashore on a surfboard in Imperial Beach.

A woman was discovered hidden in the side panel of a car.


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[Ginchiyo Tachibana]

A 16-year-old boy was caught trying to smuggle drugs across the border by taping packets to his body

Drugs hidden inside concrete garden furniture

Drugs concealed in a lawn mower

Drugs found hidden under the seat of a motorcycle


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[Ginchiyo Tachibana]

An illegal immigrant hidden behind the back seat of a car

Marijuana hidden inside a roll of plastic

Border Patrol agents arrested two Los Angeles women in June 2009 after finding 166 pounds of marijuana hidden in their minivan. The arrests happened when the women stopped at the Border Patrol checkpoint on westbound Interstate 8 east of Pine Valley. When agents searched the vehicle, they found dozens of bricks of marijuana hidden in storage compartments in the rear. Authorities estimated that the drugs had a street value of more than $100,000. The women were carrying two children in the Dodge Caravan.

Drugs found hidden in the shoes of a 24-year-old man trying to cross the border in February 2010

Heroin hidden in the differential of a vehicle


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