5 U.S. teens allegedly drug mules

SAN DIEGO, July 21 (UPI) -- Officials say the arrest of five U.S. teenagers allegedly smuggling drugs from Mexico into the San Diego area appears to reveal a new trend in couriers.

U.S. Customs and Border Control agents arrested three boys and two girls in separate incidents Thursday and Friday, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The agents reported seizing 17 pounds of marijuana and a pound of Mexican brown heroin.

All the arrests were made at the Calexico and San Ysidro crossing points.

In most of the cases, the teens were stopped and searched because of their clothing. The two girls were stopped because they were wearing sweatshirts that seemed overly large, while a boy was searched because he was wearing a sweater on a warm day.

One boy was spotted walking awkwardly on the pedestrian bridge at San Ysidro. Agents said he had four packages of marijuana with a total weight of more than 4 pounds taped to his thighs and calves.

The five were being held in juvenile detention centers, charged with drug smuggling.