Border smugglers arrested in New Mexico

Portillo shines his flashlight on 45-pound backpacks of marijuana that agents said were dropped by the suspects.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

The four suspects were captured around 1 a.m. in the desert. Two others in the group escaped.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Suspects walk a half-mile from the arrest site to a nearby road. Many smugglers cross the border in this remote area of New Mexico and hike 75 miles to a drop point. Agents use tracking techniques borrowed from the Native Americans to find them.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

An agent on an all-terrain vehicle helped chase down the four prisoners.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Patrick Limbaugh with the U.S. Border Patrol helped catch the suspects with his drug-sniffing dog. The arrest netted 275 pounds of marijuana.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Limbaugh piles up the confiscated drugs while the suspects await transport to a cell in Lordsburg, N.M.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Portillo inspects the worn blanket wrapped around a suspect’s boot. Veteran smugglers wrap their shoes, switch them out and even walk backward to try and throw off trackers.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

Smugglers hike for days through the desert carrying these burlap packs on their backs, each containing 2 or 3 bundles of tightly wrapped marijuana.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)