Border Patrol agents concluded a high-speed chase with two drug traffickers by pulling them out of a burning vehicle and saving their lives.
The chase began when U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Harlingen station spotted smugglers loading drugs into a minivan near the border community of El Ranchito, just off the Rio Grande, information provided to Breitbart Texas by Border Patrol revealed.
The agents moved toward the van and tried to arrest the smugglers, who leaped into the van and fled at a high rate of speed. The escape attempt failed, as the smugglers lost control of their van and drove into a tree, causing the vehicle to catch fire.
The agents pulled one of the smugglers out of the flaming vehicle. The other was able to exit the van on his own, but had to be dragged to safety by the agents, mere moments before the van became fully engulfed in flames.
Authorities were able to recover three bundles of marijuana weighing approximately 140 pounds from the burned-out van. The two suspected smugglers were rushed to a local hospital, while Brownsville police were called in to take over investigation of the crash.