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  4. Two Apprehended With Nearly $1.7M in Drugs

Two Apprehended With Nearly $1.7M in Drugs

Release Date
Tue, 01/24/2017

TUCSON, Ariz. – Customs and Border Protection officers arrested two people involved in separate weekend attempts to smuggle a combined $1.7 million in cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine through the Port of Nogales.

Officers at the Mariposa crossing removed 88 pounds of heroin and 8 pounds of cocaine from a subject vehicle
Officers at the Mariposa crossing removed 88
pounds of heroin and 8 pounds of cocaine
from a subject vehicle

Officers working with CBP canines made two seizures on Saturday, beginning with 88 pounds of heroin worth approximately $1.5 million and 8 pounds of cocaine worth more than $90,000; seized from a 50-year-old woman from Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. The woman attempted to enter the U.S. at the Mariposa crossing in a Hyundai SUV.

The amount of heroin seized Saturday represents the second largest heroin seizure by CBP officers from the Tucson Field Office. The largest seizure, 101 pounds worth more than $1.76 million, occurred in October 2000 at the San Luis Port of Entry.

Shortly after the Mariposa seizure, officers at the Dennis DeConcini crossing seized more than 30 pounds of methamphetamine, valued in excess of $96,000. Officers found the drugs in a Ford SUV driven by a 56-year-old male resident alien living in Willcox, Arizona.

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.

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: Feb 03, 2021