Nogales CBP Seizes More Than $1 Million in Meth, Cocaine

TUCSON, Ariz. – Customs and Border Protection officers wrapped up their first seven days of November with seven arrested in separate attempts to smuggle more than $1 million in hard drugs through the Port of Nogales.

Officers at the DeConcini crossing started the month by seizing more than 20 pounds of meth on Nov. 1 valued in excess of $60,000, after a drug canine alerted them to the dashboard area of a Chevy sedan driven by a 22-year-old Phoenix woman.

That same afternoon, officers at the Mariposa crossing were alerted to a Mazda sedan, driven by a 64-year-old man from Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico, containing almost 37 pounds of cocaine worth more than $418,000.

Then on Nov. 3, officers working at the Mariposa crossing referred a 20-year-old Rio Rico woman for a secondary inspection after one of their canines alerted to the front bumper of a Ford sedan. Officers found more than 23 pounds of meth worth in excess of $70,000.

On Nov. 5, a CBP canine assisted officers at the same crossing in the discovery of almost 38 pounds of meth in a Toyota sedan driven by a 28-year-old woman from Mesa, Arizona. Officers estimate the drugs to be worth more than $113,000.

On Nov. 6, a CBP canine working alongside officers at the Mariposa crossing helped locate nearly 10 pounds of meth, worth close to $29,000, within the muffler of a Nissan sedan driven by a 29-year-old man from Nogales, Sonora.

Later that day, officers at the Dennis DeConcini crossing, also working with a drug canine, found more than 29 pounds of cocaine in a Nissan sedan driven by a 30-year-old woman from Nogales, Sonora. Officers located the drugs, valued in excess of $330,000, in the vehicle’s front and rear bumpers.

Officers working at the Mariposa crossing on the same day referred a 25-year-old woman from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, for a secondary inspection of her Jeep SUV and found almost 12 pounds of meth, worth close to $35,000, beneath the front seats. 

Officers seized all drugs and vehicles used in the smuggling attempts, and turned the subjects over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.