NOGALES: The U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested five Mexican nationals and a Phoenix resident for allegedly attempting to smuggle $1.45 million in narcotics in separate incidents over three-day span at the Port of Nogales.
On Wednesday, June 24, Jose Rene Vasquez-Cervantes was taken into custody after a CBP narcotics-detection canine alerted the officers at the Mariposa crossing of more than 16 pounds of methamphetamine in the spare tire of his Ford sedan. The drugs had an estimated value of nearly $49,000.
The next day, 18-year-old Phoenix woman, Maria Del Rosio, was apprehended after a CBP narcotics-detection canine alerted the officers at the Dennis DeConcini crossing of several packages of heroin that weighed nearly 25 pounds hidden within the gas tank of her Chevrolet truck.
Later that day at the same crossing, 23-year-old Jose Rafael Torres-Torres was arrested after a CBP narcotics-detection canine alerted the officers to over 17 pounds of heroin, more than seven pounds of methamphetamine and almost three pounds of cocaine hidden within rear air-conditioning unit of the Nogales, Sonora man’s Ford SUV. The heroin was worth nearly $244,000, the methamphetamine was worth nearly 22,000 and the cocaine was worth about $29,000.
At the Mariposa crossing later that day, 29-year-old Judas Tadeo Chavez-Valenzuela and his wife, 29-year-old Aleyda Perez Perez-Camacho, were taken into custody after the officers found nearly 73 pounds of methamphetamine and almost five pounds of heroin in the Nogales, Sonora couple’s Nissan sedan. The methamphetamine and the heroin had an individual estimated worth of over $218,000 and $66,000, respectively.
On Friday, June 26, 38-year-old Julio Cesar Castro-Portillo was apprehended after a CBP narcotics-detection canine alerted the officers at the Dennis DeConcini crossing of nearly 19 pounds of cocaine, almost 13 pounds of cocaine and over 25 pounds of methamphetamine concealed within the dash and firewall of the Caborca, Sonora resident’s Dodge truck. The cocaine was valued at over $267,000. The cocaine was worth almost $134,000. The methamphetamine was valued at nearly $76,000.
