TUCSON: Customs and Border Protection officers arrested seven people for their separate alleged attempts to smuggle a combined 1,936 pounds of marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine through the Port of Nogales earlier this week.
Officers at the Dennis DeConcini crossing referred a 28-year-old Nogales woman for further inspection of her Pontiac sedan on Dec. 15. The search led officers to the discovery more than 22.5 pounds of meth, worth almost $68,000, within the vehicle’s rocker panels.
On Dec. 16, officers at the Mariposa Commercial Facility referred a 30-year-old man from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, for further inspection of the tractor-trailer he was driving. After a CBP narcotics-detection canine alerted to the presence of drugs co-mingled within a shipment of cucumbers, officers found more than 200 bundles of marijuana weighing nearly 1,719 pounds and valued at more than $859,000.
Later in the day, officers at the Mariposa crossing referred a 32-year-old legal permanent resident alien woman and her 34-year-old husband for a secondary inspection of their Ford SUV. After a CBP canine alerted to the presence of drugs, officers located 103 pounds of marijuana throughout the interior and exterior of the vehicle. The drugs are worth an estimated $51,700.
Officers also referred a 29-year-old Rio Rico woman for an additional search of her Nissan sedan. When a drug-detection canine alerted to the vehicle’s back doors and quarter panels, officers located nearly 37 pounds of meth worth just under $110,000.
On Dec. 17, DeConcini officers investigating a canine team alert to the dashboard area of a Ford sedan driven by a 33-year-old Mexican national from Puerto Penasco, Sonora, Mexico, found almost 11 pounds of meth worth more than $32,000.
A short time later, a canine team conducting post-primary inspections resulted in the referral of a 31-year-old Phoenix woman for a further search of her Chrysler sedan. Officers then discovered nearly 44 pounds of heroin, valued at nearly $617,000, hidden within the rocker panels.
CBP officers seized all drugs and vehicles, and turned the subjects over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
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