NEW YORK: US Customs and Border Protection intercepted two cocaine shipments, confiscating 136 pounds of illegal narcotics at the Hidalgo-Reynosa and Pharr-Reynosa bridges.
While apparently unrelated, according to Customs and Border Protection, the two cocaine seizures had striking similarities.
Both involved Mexican men driving Honda Accords from Monterrey to Houston. Both vehicles had cocaine hidden in the vehicle’s firewall. And both men told investigators they had already made two trips.
Customs and Border Protection announced both cocaine arrests Monday, when prosecutors filed criminal complaints in federal court.
Serafin Arcos-Rodriguez, 40, of Monterrey, claimed he wanted to shop in McAllen, according to the criminal complaint.
Customs officers ran a license plate check, which “yielded possible involvement in transporting contraband,” according to the criminal complaint. They sent the vehicle to secondary inspection for an X-ray and had a K-9 sniff the vehicle.
They eventually pulled 40 packages that weighed about 79.37 pounds from the car, according to the criminal complaint. The packages tested positive for cocaine.
An agent with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations questioned Arcos-Rodriguez, who said he was paid $450 to drive the Honda Accord to Houston and 10,000 pesos when he returned to Monterrey.
Enrique De La Rosa-Sotelo, 39, of San Nicolas de los Garza, Nuevo Leon, arrived at the international bridge driving a white 2005 Honda Accord, according to the criminal complaint against him.
A K-9 alerted to the car and an X-ray inspection revealed anomalies in the firewall area — the same problems observed earlier at the Pharr bridge.
Customs officers searched the car and found 24 packages that weighed 25.82 pounds, according to the criminal complaint. The packages tested positive for cocaine.
