Horses were mules for marijuana smugglers

GABRIELA RICO

NOGALES - No one knows for sure how long they had lived a life of crime.

But U.S. Border Patrol agents who earlier this month caught the quartet smuggling drugs into the United States are determined to see them rehabilitated and maybe one day working on the other side of the law.

But these smugglers aren't drug cartel mules, as smugglers sometimes refer to people who carry their drugs across the border.

They're horses.

The horses, suspected of smuggling 532 pounds of marijuana through the Tohono O'odham Nation, are "in custody" while they undergo blood tests to check for disease, said Agent Miguel Jimenez, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's Nogales station.

Following the 30-day quarantine, the beasts will be evaluated by an agent from the horse patrol to determine if they are suitable for Border Patrol work. Horses that don't pass muster will be sold at auction.

Often, they fit the bill perfectly because of their background, said John M. France, assistant chief patrol agent in charge of the horse patrol in the Tucson sector.

"They're suited for mountain work because that's where they were used during their life of crime," he said. "We will put a white hat on them, so to speak."

Just last month, a seized horse joined the Nogales Horse Patrol Unit, France said.

The agency is still acquiring horses because of their usefulness in patrolling hard-to-reach areas such as in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.

Every seized horse is viewed as a potential agent and its questionable history forgiven.

The Border Patrol's Tucson sector has 86 horses - the agency's largest horse patrol unit in the country. About a dozen of the horses were seized, France said.

"They will become part of the Border Patrol family," Jimenez said. "That (horse) is a federal agent to us."

Three people traveling with the horses also were taken into custody. Their names were not released by the U.S. Attorney's Office.