Authorities in Southern Arizona said they've seized more than $7 million worth of marijuana.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said a task force found five abandoned vehicles early Wednesday near the village of Ventana on the Tohono O'odham Nation.
They found 683 bundles of marijuana inside the vehicles. The marijuana was estimated to weigh almost 14,500 pounds with a street value of $7.2 million.
The vehicles were seized, and the marijuana was turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Authorities say the West Desert Task Force is a joint effort between U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations and the Pinal County Sheriff's Department.
Its goal is to combat narcotics trafficking in the west desert region of Arizona.
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In an unrelated bust, a Mexican national was arrested at the Nogales Port of Entry on Wednesday for attempting to smuggle nearly 65 pounds of cocaine into the United States.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers sent Gaston Delacruz Arriaga-Barrigan, 61, of Hermosillo, Sonora, for additional inspection of his Chevrolet sedan when he tried to cross, the agency said in a news release.
After a drug dog alerted to the presence of drugs behind the passenger's side headlight, officers removed 27 packages of cocaine worth nearly $591,000.
Staff and wire reports
