TUCSON: U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials seized over $1.4 million worth of drugs in the southern Arizona cities of Nogales, Naco and Douglas this week.
Forty-two pounds of cocaine and nearly 1,700 pounds of marijuana was seized at the Port of Nogales
The cocaine was discovered during inspections of separate vehicles of Cesar Gastelum-Pompa, 51, of Nogales, and Shayna Rosalind Gualtieri, 28, of Tucson. Pompa’s Chevrolet SUV was found stocked with nearly 24 pounds of cocaine worth more than $250,000, and Gualtieri’s Nissan sedan contained more than 18 pounds worth $193,000. Both were arrested.
Officials also seized $847,000 of marijuana from the roof of a tractor-trailer driven by Ramon Emilio Felix-Lopez, 57, a Mexican National, after being alerted to the situation by a CBP narcotics-detection canine.
Samuel Sierras-Soto, 34, was arrested at the Port of Naco for attempting to smuggle 139 pounds of marijuana within his Nissan van. The drugs are valued at $70,000.
Meanwhile, Douglas resident Manuel Angel Carbajal-Perez, 21, was arrested after an inspection of his Chevrolet sedan at the Port of Douglas revealed more than 150 pounds of marijuana valued at nearly $79,000 throughout his vehicle.
All those arrested were referred to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
