CBP Officers arrest 2 men with active arrest warrants
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Field Operations officers at the Port of Nogales arrested two men Sept. 18 with outstanding warrants out of Maricopa County.
CBP officers first stopped Daniel Lopez-Olivarria, a 36-year-old Mexican national residing in Avondale, Arizona, for additional questioning as he attempted to enter the U.S. through a pedestrian lane at the DeConcini crossing. When officers conducted a records check, they found that Lopez has an active arrest warrant for 2nd degree murder.
A couple of hours later, officers encountered Manuel Murrieta, a 47-year-old Nogales, Arizona resident, when he attempted to enter the U.S. through a DeConcini pedestrian crossing. Officers then learned through a records check that he has an active arrest warrant for money laundering.
Both men were turned over to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office to await extradition.
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.
CBP Officers seize $237K in drugs at Nogales port
Customs and Border Protection officers arrested three Mexican nationals on Sept. 17 involved in separate attempts to smuggle a combined $237,000-worth of heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine through the Port of Nogales.
Officers at the Dennis DeConcini crossing referred a 24-year-old woman from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, for a secondary inspection of her Dodge sedan. After a CBP narcotics-detection canine alerted to the vehicle, officers found more than 30 pounds of meth worth in excess of $91,000.
Later that day, officers at the DeConcini crossing located nearly 24 pounds of meth, valued at almost $72,000, and just under .75 pounds of heroin worth more than $12,000. Officers discovered the drugs in the back wall of a Dodge truck driven by a 78-year-old man from Ures, Sonora, Mexico.
A third seizure occurred a short time later at the Mariposa crossing involving a 24-year-old woman from Santa Ana, Sonora, Mexico. A positive alert by a CBP narcotics-detection canine led to the discovery of close to 123 pounds of marijuana, worth more than $61,000, concealed within the floors of a Nissan sedan.
Officers seized all drugs and vehicles used in the smuggling attempts, and turned the subjects over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.
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.
