Smugglers Attack Border Patrol Agents with Rocks

U.S. Border Patrol agents came under attack as they attempted to stop a group of marijuana smugglers from bringing their load into the U.S. The agents seized 87 pounds as a result near Brownsville, Texas.

Agents assigned to the Brownsville Border Patrol station received a call on June 1 that four men were scaling the border fence with bundles of what appeared to be drugs. The agents responded and approached the men who quickly fled back across the fence. As the agents moved in to seize the abandoned bundles of drugs, the four smugglers began throwing rocks at them, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials.

The agents were fortunate to avoid being hit. Officials said the four bundles weighed 87 pounds in total. They estimate the value of the marijuana to be about $70,000.

Agents were not able to apprehend the four smugglers who quickly fled back to Mexico.

Agents turned the seized marijuana to Drug Enforcement Administration.

Border Patrol agents are frequently assaulted by smugglers and those who illegally cross the border from Mexico. The most recent statistics available from U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials show that more than 300 were assaulted in the line of duty between October 1, 2017, and March 31, 2018.

Three agents from the Rio Grande Valley Sector were assaulted in April. These assaults come on the heels of four others in the same sector, Breitbart Texas reported. The attacks all occurred during a one-week period.

All of these assaults occurred in relation to attempted arrests of drug and human smugglers, officials reported.