CALEXICO, Calif. – U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the Calexico station encountered a man and a woman in possession of marijuana and a stolen firearm, Saturday night.
The incident occurred at 8:00 p.m., when a grey Buick Rendezvous approached an immigration checkpoint on Interstate 8, near Calexico. Agents referred the vehicle to secondary after an agent smelled what he believed to be marijuana coming from inside of the vehicle. Though legal in some states, the possession of marijuana remains a federal offense.
At secondary inspection, a narcotic detection canine alerted to the driver side door in which approximately 11 grams of marijuana was located. Following the detection of narcotics, agents conducted a full search of the vehicle and found three handguns, one of which was confirmed to be stolen.
The driver and his passenger were taken to the Calexico Border Patrol station for further investigation. Imperial County Sheriff’s Office responded and took the driver into custody for possession of a stolen firearm. The passenger was released with the vehicle, but later arrested by the California Highway Patrol and charged with Driving Under the Influence (DUI).
Following the encounter with U.S. Border Patrol, the State of Texas issued warrants for both subjects for murder out of Dallas, Texas. Thanks to the initial actions by U.S. Border Patrol, the driver of the vehicle is already in custody and now awaits extradition to Texas.
Both subjects are currently in the custody of the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office.
"Border Patrol Agents encounter a wide array of criminals in the course of their daily duties" said El Centro Sector Chief Gregory Bovino. "In this case two suspects wanted for murder were taken off the streets and into custody - great job to our agents, nicely done!"
The El Centro Sector will continue to work diligently with our fellow law enforcement partners to keep our border communities safe.