NOGALES- U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Nogales have been very busy lately.Within the last couple weeks, they’ve seized thousands of pounds of marijuana and other contraband.At both the commercial and passenger side of the Ports of Entry’s in Nogales, smugglers try to get their drugs through.
Inside a shipment of watermelons, officers seized more than 1,400 pounds of marijuana. In a bell pepper shipment, officers found 2,700 pounds of marijuana.Joyce Jarvis, assistant Port Director for Trade Operations in Nogales, said the goal of the smugglers is to get these shipments north.
“In Nogales we have a straight shot up to I-10, and I-10 goes coast to coast, and into all the markets,” said Jarvis.Food is not only the place to hide the drugs. More than $100,000 worth of heroin was found within a engine manifold.People try to get drugs through on foot as well. Three pounds of meth were found inside a X-Box.
“What happened was they hollowed it out and they put all the packages in the console game.”U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers work hard to prevent these drugs from coming through with their highly trained officers, K-9’s, and high tech equipment, including an X-Ray machine.
Rigoberto Reyes has lived in Nogales his whole life. He has family that work for both CBP and Border Patrol. He says he feels safe in his community.I think they are doing a good job especially for our kids,” said Reyes. “The less drugs the better for our kids.”
