Pot-firing catapult found at Arizona-Mexico border

[January 27, 2011]  TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Drug smugglers trying to get marijuana across the Arizona-Mexico border apparently are trying a new approach -- a catapult.

National Guard troops operating a remote video surveillance system at the Naco Border Patrol Station say they observed several people preparing a catapult and launching packages over the International Border fence last Friday evening.

Tucson TV station KVOA says Border Patrol agents working with the National Guard contacted Mexican authorities, who went to the location and disrupted the catapult operation.

The smugglers left the area before they could be captured, but Mexican officials seized about 45 pounds of marijuana, an SUV and the catapult device.

Naco is about 80 miles southeast of Tucson.

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Information from: KVOA-TV, http://www.kvoa.com/

[Associated Press]

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