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CBP Officers Seize More Than $600K in Hard Drugs

Release Date: 
October 28, 2016

TUCSON, Ariz. – Customs and Border Protection officers arrested two people Wednesday involved in separate attempts to smuggle nearly 156 pounds of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine through the Port of Nogales.

The rear seats of a smuggling vehicle were found to contain a combination of cocaine, heroin and meth worth nearly $266K
The rear seats of a smuggling vehicle were
found to contain a combination of cocaine,
heroin and meth worth nearly $266K

Officers at the Mariposa crossing referred a 22-year-old man from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, for further inspection of his Jeep SUV and found almost 14 pounds of cocaine, worth close to $158,000; just under 5 pounds of heroin, worth in excess of $78,000; and more than 9 pounds of meth, exceeding $28,000 in value.

The tires of a smuggling vehicle were found to contain metal boxes that were welded inside of the rims, that contained meth
The tires of a smuggling vehicle were found
to contain metal boxes that were welded
inside of the rims, that contained meth

Earlier in the day, officers at the Dennis DeConcini crossing referred a 36-year-old woman from Lynwood, California, for further inspection of her GMC truck. After a CBP canine alerted to an odor of drugs within all of the tires, officers found metal boxes built into the tires containing more than 128 pounds of meth worth almost $385,000.

CBP officers seized the drugs and vehicles, and turned the suspects over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

Last modified: 
February 9, 2017
Tags: 
Port Security
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