Lukeville CBP Officers Intercept RV Loaded with Drugs

TUCSON – U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations, officers at Arizona’s Port of Lukeville arrested an Arizona pair after seizing more than 1,600 pounds of marijuana.

Officers referred a 42-year-old Mesa man and his 29-year-old Mexican female passenger for a secondary inspection of his GMC truck and travel trailer as they applied to enter the United States from Mexico Wednesday morning. A CBP narcotics detection canine alerted to a scent it is trained to detect, leading officers to remove 135 packages of marijuana from the floor of the vehicle. The drugs were identified as almost 1,614 pounds of marijuana, worth more than $484,000.

Officers arrested both subjects and turned them over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, while the drugs and the truck/travel trailer were seized.

Federal law allows officers to charge individuals by complaint, a method that allows the filing of charges for criminal activity without inferring guilt. An individual is presumed innocent unless and until competent evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

CBP’s Office of Field Operations is the primary organization within Homeland Security tasked with an anti-terrorism mission at our nation’s ports. CBP officers screen all people, vehicles and goods entering the United States while facilitating the flow of legitimate trade and travel. Their mission also includes carrying out border-related duties, including narcotics interdiction, enforcing immigration and trade laws, and protecting the nation’s food supply and agriculture industry from pests and diseases.