November 17, 2003 -- Monica Balderrama, KFOX News at Nine.

As the sun was coming up on Friday morning, Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol agents noticed this white SUV near the overpass. When agents approached the vehicle, it was still running, but there was no driver.

Gilbert Garza- Border Patrol, "He noticed footprints from the driver side went straight back into Mexico, being that the vehicle got stuck, the driver could not get it loose and went back into Mexico on foot."

Agents also discovered 14-hundred pounds of marijuana with an estimated value of more than one million dollars. Through further investigation, agents discovered the vehicle was stolen out of Las Vegas, Nevada.

And because it the river is bone dry, drug smugglers think it's easy to drive across into the U.S.

Garza, "Makes it a little more viable of an option a smuggler to utilize maybe the river to drive a vehicle through."

The slope of the riverbank in this area of the Rio Grande is only about five feet high just enough room for vehicles to drive over.

Maria Cardiel- Resident, "There's no water to hold them back, when the river level is higher, it's more difficult for the drug smugglers.

Customs and Border Protection officials say the attempt to drive a vehicle through the river is not new, but now that the Rio Grande is completely dry - the obstacles are easier to overcome.

Montes, "It's always been easier to come across, whether there's water or no water."

The vehicle displayed Texas Exempt license plates and Customs and Border Protection officials say the drug smugglers were probably using that as a disguise to blend in the area a little better.

The marijuana confiscated is now in the custody of the Drug Enforcement Administration Task Force. The El Paso Police Department took custody of the stolen SUV.