TUCSON, Ariz. –U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Arizona’s Port of Nogales arrested a Mexican national and a U.S. citizen connected with separate failed attempts to smuggle a combination of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine into the United States on Thursday.
CBP officers at the Mariposa Crossing referred a 27-year-old U. S. citizen for further inspection of his Toyota sedan Thursday morning. A CBP narcotics detection canine alerted to a scent it was trained to detect within the vehicle’s dashboard. Officers removed multiple packages of drugs, which were identified as more than 8 pounds of cocaine, worth nearly $200,000 as well as more than 28 pounds of meth, worth nearly $85,000.
Later that day, officers at the Mariposa Crossing referred a 43-year-old Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico resident for an addition search of his Nissan sedan. After a positive alert by a CBP canine, officers removed multiple packages of hard drugs from throughout the vehicle. The drugs were identified as more than 8 pounds of heroin, valued at more than $217,000, and more than 7 pounds of meth, with an estimated value of more than $21,000.
Officers seized the drugs as well as both vehicles. The subjects were arrested and then turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.