TUCSON: U.S. Customs and Border Protection arrest five alleged smugglers with a combined $1.325 million worth of narcotics in separate smuggle attempts over the weekend.
At the Port Douglas, two men were apprehended on Friday, July 31, for attempting to smuggle nearly 200 pounds of marijuana in separate incidents. A 70-year-old man was taken into custody after the officers found more than 43 pounds of marijuana, worth almost $22,000, hidden in the bench seat of the Douglas man’s Ford truck. In a separate incident, a 16-year-old man was apprehended after the officers found 156 pounds of marijuana, valued at $78,000, concealed through the Agua Prieta, Sonora teen’s Pontiac sedan.
At the Port of Nogales, CBP arrested two Mexican nationals and a Tucson man for attempting to smuggle a combined 264 pounds of cocaine and marijuana in separate incidents through the Mariposa crossing. On Friday, 23-year-old Jesus Abiram Orduno was arrested after a CBP narcotics-detection canine alerted the officer of nearly 32 pounds of cocaine, worth nearly $331,000, in the rear bumper of the Tucson man’s Ford SUV. The next day, Aug. 1, 49-year-old Marco Antonio Valenzuela was apprehended after a CBP-narcotics-detection canine alerted the officers to over 73 pounds of cocaine, valued in excess of $765,000, hidden within a produce shipment in the Sinaloa, Mexico resident’s tractor-trailer. Later that day, 31-year-old Amparo Margarita Corella-Rascon was arrested after a service canine located nearly 159 pounds of marijuana, worth over $79,000, concealed through the Nogales, Sonora woman’s Toyota SUV.
All the drugs and vehicles involved were processed for seizure. The suspects were referred to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
