120 Pounds of Coke, Meth and Heroin Seized
February 1, 2017
From Friday through Sunday of last week, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials stopped two U.S. citizens and one Mexican national accused of smuggling illegal hard drugs in their vehicles at the Nogales international border ports of entry. The CBP press release did not mention at which ports (Mariposa or DeConcini) the drugs were found.
One Friday, CBP inspectors located 35 pounds of methamphetamine, seven pounds of cocaine and 11 pounds of heroin hidden in the rocker panels of a Dodge sedan in the secondary inspection area of a Nogales international border crossing. The 26-year old driver of the vehicle, a Mexican woman, was taken into custody.
The following day, a 22-year-old woman from Tucson driving a Chevrolet sedan was flagged for secondary inspection at a Nogales international port of entry. During the inspection, CBP officers accompanied by a drug-detection canine found 46 pounds of methamphetamine in the sedan’s rear side panels. The estimated value of the meth was $138,000.
And on Sunday, a 37-year-old man from Sahuarita, Arizona driving a Toyota truck was referred to secondary inspection at a Nogales international port of entry. A search of the vehicle conducted by CBP officers and a drug-sniffing dog found more than 20 pounds of meth that had been hidden in the Toyota’s front fender. The meth was worth an estimated $64,000.
All vehicles and drugs were seized, and the Nogales international drug smuggling suspects were sent to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations unit for processing.
Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
