Armed standoff on Rio Grande

Uniformed Mexicans with guns, bulldozer seize drug-bust truck from Border Patrol

U.S. Border Patrol agents were backed down this week by armed men, dressed in what appeared to be Mexican military uniforms and carrying military weapons, who seized a captured dump truck filled with marijuana from the U.S. agents and dragged it across the border into Mexico with a bulldozer.

The border incident occurred Thursday evening when Border Patrol agents attempted to pull over a dump truck on Interstate 10 in Hudspeth County, Texas. The driver fled from the agents, exiting the freeway and driving toward the Rio Grande which runs within 2 miles of the interstate in this portion of West Texas.

The driver abandoned the truck after it became stuck in the river bed, escaping into Mexico.

Agents called for reinforcement from the Texas state troopers and Hudspeth County sheriff and began unloading the haul � estimated to have been nearly 3 tons � when everything changed.

Officers "started to retrieve the bundles when the armed subjects appeared," said Agent Ramiro Cordero, Border Patrol spokesman.

According to Hudspeth County Chief Deputy Mike Doyal, the dump truck driver returned with armed men, some of whom drove "official looking vehicles with overhead lights." Some of those armed, Doyal told the El Paso Times, appeared to be Mexican soldiers in uniform with military weapons.

"It's a very serious incident," Doyal said. "We are very fortunate ... no one got hurt. Everyone had the presence of mind not to cause an international incident, or start shooting."

As both sides faced off, a bulldozer appeared from the Mexico side of the river and was used by the armed men to pull the dump truck � and the two-thirds of the marijuana that had not yet been unloaded � into Mexico. The bulldozer, Doyal said, is believed to be used regularly to make makeshift crossings over the Rio Grande.

The "armed encounter with drug smugglers," as Cordero described it, is under investigation. No confirmation was made as to whether or not the "soldiers" belonged to the Mexican military.