Campo, Calif. – U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested two resident Mexican nationals on Friday for cross-border horse smuggling after agents observed them attempting to illegally import five horses between the ports of entry near Campo, Calif.
 | |||||
|
| | |||
| |||||
Agents witnessed two men illegally cross the international border with five horses Friday morning at around 5 a.m., in a canyon near Campo, Calif. The two subjects returned to Mexico on foot leaving the horses alone on the north side of the border. At around 9 a.m., agents witnessed a gray Dodge pickup truck towing a small horse trailer containing one horse approach the location of the other horses. Two subjects exited the truck and were observed loading the five horses into their horse trailer.
The driver of the pickup truck and trailer was later stopped by Border Patrol agents on Highway 94. Agents also stopped the second subject riding a horse that had been previously off-loaded from the trailer. After questioning, the suspected smugglers were arrested and charged with importation contrary to laws of the United States. The Dodge pickup truck and trailer were seized by the U.S. Border Patrol, and the six horses were turned over to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for quarantine and future auction.
The San Diego Sector Border Patrol’s strategy is to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat targeted transnational threats operating within the San Diego Sector area of influence to affect increased operational control of the Border.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.
