NEW YORK: U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials confiscated more than $300,000 worth of smuggled narcotics near the Arizona-Mexico border so far this week, according to border officials.
Officers seized 58 pounds of methamphetamine and 141 pounds of marijuana in three separate incidents.
On Wednesday morning, three suspects accused of carrying backpacks with 141 pounds of marijuana in total were arrested north of Interstate 8 near Gila Bend, according to a CBP statement. Between the three, the marijuana was valued at more than $70,000.
Border patrol agents say they confiscated 32 pounds of meth Tuesday night after stopping a vehicle at the Wellton Station checkpoint, 40 miles east of Yuma on I-8.
Canines smelled the meth, worth more than $161,000, in the car’s fuel tank, the CBP statement said.
The first arrest in the series was made Monday, at the border crossing near Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, where Jose Ricardo Ramirez-Hinostroza, 31, was detained on suspicion of attempting to bring 26 pounds of meth into the United States in the spare tire of his Ford truck.
A canine trained to sniff out narcotics alerted officers to the meth, which was valued at more than $79,000, the CBP statement said.
