Attempt to Scale Border Fence Goes Poorly

Border patrol assumes it was a smuggling operation gone wrong
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 1, 2012 2:46 PM CDT
Attempt to Scale Border Fence Goes Poorly
A Jeep Cherokee that smugglers were attempting to drive over the US-Mexico border fence is seen stuck at the top of a makeshift ramp near Yuma, Ariz.   ((AP Photo/U.S. Customs and Border Protection))

Suspected smugglers who tried to use ramps to drive an SUV over a 14-foot-tall border fence had to abandon their plan when the Jeep became stuck on top of the barrier. Agents patrolling the US-Mexico border near the Imperial Sand Dunes in California's southeast corner spotted the Jeep Cherokee teetering atop the fence early Tuesday. The vehicle was perched about five miles west of the Colorado River and the Arizona state line.

Two men on the Mexican side of the border were trying to free the Jeep when the agents approached, a Border Patrol spokesperson said. They ran further into Mexico and escaped. The Jeep was empty, but agents assume it was filled with contraband like bales of marijuana before it got stuck atop the fence. Smugglers have tried the ramp-over-the-fence trick once before; in April 2011, agents tracked down a truck that made it over successfully. (More smuggler stories.)

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