TUCSON – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Mariposa Commercial Facility arrested two tractor-trailer drivers last week for separate attempts to smuggle nearly a ton of drugs through the Port of Nogales.
CBP officers working with a narcotics-detection canine on Nov. 23, arrested a 51-year-old man from Obregon, Sonora, Mexico, after discovering more than 350 pounds of methamphetamine in a shipment of Chinese vegetables. Officers estimate the drug’s value at $1.06 million. This seizure represents the 2nd largest seizure of meth in the Tucson Field Office.
On Nov. 25, officers working with a canine found more than 1,600 pounds of marijuana, worth in excess of $800,000, within the roof of an empty tractor-trailer driven by a 37-year-old man from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.
Officers seized all drugs and vehicles used in the smuggling attempts, and turned both 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.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with management, control and protection of our nation’s borders at and between official ports of entry. CBP’s mission includes keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws. Follow us on Twitter @CBPArizona.
