ARIZONA: US Customs and Border Protection seized more than $1.3 million in drugs in Arizona by using drug-searching canines, according to federal officials.
The following information was provided by Customs and Border Protection:
Agents located 8.5 pounds of cocaine, worth $90,000, in the dashboard of a Volkswagen driven by Claudia Gonzalez-Romero, 26, of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.
Border Patrol agents at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales found nine pounds of methamphetamine valued at $27,000 in the rear quarter panels of an SUV. Agents identified the driver 50-year-old Cynthia Bates, and her passenger as Vanessa C. Martinez, 29, both of Phoenix.
All three women were referred to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, according to federal officials.
More than $1.2 million dollars in marijuana was seized from a tractor trailer by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the Port of Nogales commercial facility. The truck contained more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana separated into more than 300 packages, federal officials said.
Agents found the drugs mixed with a load of green peppers after a CBP narcotics detection canine gave the officers a positive alert for drugs.
Authorities identified the driver as Sixto Hernandez-Apodaca, 51, and he was handed over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, officials said.
