TUCSON – Customs and Border Protection officers arrested two people involved in separate weekend attempts to smuggle a combined $1.7 million in cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine through the Port of Nogales.
Officers working with CBP canines made two seizures on Saturday, beginning with 88 pounds of heroin worth approximately $1.5 million and 8 pounds of cocaine worth more than $90,000; seized from a 50-year-old woman from Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. The woman attempted to enter the U.S. at the Mariposa crossing in a Hyundai SUV.
The amount of heroin seized Saturday represents the second largest heroin seizure by CBP officers from the Tucson Field Office. The largest seizure, 101 pounds worth more than $1.76 million, occurred in October 2000 at the San Luis Port of Entry.
Shortly after the Mariposa seizure, officers at the Dennis DeConcini crossing seized more than 30 pounds of methamphetamine, valued in excess of $96,000. Officers found the drugs in a Ford SUV driven by a 56-year-old male resident alien living in Willcox, Arizona.
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.
