Meth and Marijuana Seized at Nogales International Ports
January 27, 2017
In a three-day period during the first full week of December 2016, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intercepted quantities of methamphetamine and marijuana with a combined value of nearly $5.2 million.
Two Nogales, Arizona residents were apprehended while allegedly trying to bring more than 50 pounds of methamphetamine across the Nogales international border in separate incidents on December 5 and 6, 2016, and on the following day CBP made the eighth-largest marijuana seizure in the history of the Tucson sector.
On Tuesday, December 5, a 27-year-old woman from Nogales, Arizona had entered the DeConcini vehicular border crossing station when CBP officers assisted by a drug-detection canine located 16 pounds of methamphetamine in her Honda SUV. The drugs had a value of $48,000.
On the following day, December 6, a 26-year-old Nogales man attempting to cross the border from Mexico was directed to the secondary inspection area of the Nogales DeConcini Port of Entry. There, CBP officials located 36 pounds of methamphetamine hidden in a homemade speaker box in his Toyota sedan. The meth was valued at nearly $109,000.
And the next day, CBP officers at the Nogales Mariposa Port of Entry Commercial Facility intercepted five tons (10,000 pounds) of marijuana that had been hidden in a truckload of vacuum pump parts. That sucked for the truck’s driver, a 23-year-old man from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.
The marijuana, valued at $5.04 million, was seized along with the truck and trailer. As mentioned, this was the eighth-largest marijuana bust in the history of the Tucson sector.
All drugs and vehicles were seized, and the alleged Nogales international border smuggling suspects were arrested and turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations unit.
Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
