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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Friday, July 14, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Amistad NRA Rangers Seize Half Ton Of Marijuana, Arrest Four Four men - one from Fort Worth, Texas, and three from Ciudad Acuña, Coahuila de Zaragoza, Mexico - were arrested after rangers caught them smuggling more than 500 pounds of marijuana across Lake Amistad. A ranger became suspicious on June 22nd when he observed a group of people and a bass boat at the end of a dry cove on the west side of the lake near the U.S. Highway 90 bridge. The boaters were met at the shore by a dark-colored sport utility vehicle and the ranger saw the men loading bundles from the boat into the SUV. When the SUV left the area and pulled out onto Highway 90 going back toward Del Rio, he called for back-up and began following it. The SUV was stopped and the driver, the sole occupant of the vehicle, was detained. The back of the SUV was stuffed with several burlap sacks containing numerous “bricks” of marijuana, tightly wrapped in tape and plastic. The driver, Victor Manuel Huerta Acosta of Ciudad Acuña, was arrested. Other officers called to the scene detained three other men in a Champion bass boat. Arrested after the boat was stopped were A.M.G., 37, of Fort Worth, Texas, and A.R.H., 35, and G.R.B., 38, both of Ciudad Acuña. The boat and the SUV were seized. The marijuana recovered from the back of the SUV weighed a total of 519.79 pounds. The case was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for prosecution. Rangers were assisted in the case by Texas Department of Public Safety narcotics officers and by Border Patrol and ICE agents. The seizure was the park's second in June and the third of the year, bringing the total amount of marijuana recovered in Amistad so far this year to 1,415 pounds. (Karen Gleason, Del Rio News-Herald) Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity NRA Marijuana Eradication and Interdiction Operations Over the past few weeks, raids conducted on marijuana plantations within the park resulted in the seizure of over 13,000 plants, arrests of three people, and the discovery of a small greenhouse constructed on park land for the purpose of marijuana cultivation. In early June, rangers and officers from the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, the North State Initiative California Multi-Agency Methamphetamine Enforcement Task Force (NSI-CALMMET) and the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement (BNE) raided a marijuana plant nursery and seized over 2,300 plants. This plantation was discovered after a park visitor reported seeing individuals running away from her as she was taking a break from a hike to one of the park's waterfalls. Further investigation revealed that the growers were tapping into the waterfall as a water supply for the nursery. On July 6th, a three-month-long interagency investigation involving the above organizations plus the California Highway Patrol and California National Guard culminated in a raid of another marijuana plantation. This time, 11,380 plants were seized and one person was arrested as he fled from the site. He's currently in federal custody and facing from 10 to 40 years in prison on one count of marijuana cultivation. Subsequent to this raid, two more men suspected of cultivating marijuana were detained pending further investigation into their activities. On July 7th, a team of rangers from Whiskeytown, Lassen Volcanic and Redwood reconnoitered a suspected growing site in another area of the park and discovered an abandoned greenhouse. Upon further investigation, they found that it had apparently been used to cultivate marijuana. Plans are in place to dismantle the structure. [Chief Ranger] Minute Man NHP Incendiary Device Found Near North Bridge A Molotov cocktail type incendiary device was found broken on the steps of the 1836 monument at the North Bridge on the morning of July 9th. The device had not ignited, but left a small amount of diesel fuel on the ground. Two smaller incendiary devices were also found near the monument. Evidence suggests that the device was thrown from a distance. It apparently included a flammable fuse similar to the type used in model rocket engines. The entire area was searched, but no other devices or suspicious items were found. Investigating agencies include the Concord Fire Department and Massachusetts State Police. [Tom Casey, Chief Ranger] OTHER NEWS Other news of interest from today's edition of InsideNPS, which can be found at this address if your inside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/) and at this address if you're outside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/). Note that not all articles that appear in the former make it into the latter: Glen Canyon - The Consumer Product Safety Commission has mandated a recall of Wego kite tubes, which have caused so many serious visitor injuries: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4614" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=4614 Training and Events - This week's Servicewide training and events calendars: HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=vieweventscalendararticle&type=Conferences&id=775" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=vieweventscalendararticle&type=Conferences&id=775 HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=vieweventscalendararticle&type=Conferences&id=776" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=vieweventscalendararticle&type=Conferences&id=776 * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |