TECATE : Agents Seize Nearly Half a Ton of Drugs

U.S. Border Patrol agents have seized $14 million worth of cocaine hidden in a pickup that crossed the border illegally near Tecate, authorities said Wednesday.

The discovery of nearly half a ton of cocaine follows another half-ton seizure of the drug in another pickup in the same area Feb. 4, the Border Patrol said. It also culminates a 48-hour period in which the agency arrested eight people trying to smuggle marijuana across the border, six on foot and two in a truck. The total seizure amounted to 840 pounds of marijuana worth $1.2 million.

The latest cocaine seizure occurred about 9 a.m. Tuesday, when agents on surveillance 7 miles east of Tecate saw a man with bolt cutters make a hole in a border fence so the truck could enter illegally, spokesman Steve Kean said.

They found 972 pounds of cocaine in hidden compartments of the truck and arrested the driver, a 30-year-old Tijuana man, on suspicion of importing a controlled substance.