Border Officers Seize $3.1M Worth of Hard Drugs

TUCSON, Ariz. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations, officers at the Port of Nogales seized nearly 187 pounds of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl over the weekend from three separate drug seizures.

CBP Officers at the Mariposa Crossing referred three Nogales, Sonora, Mexico women (ages 27, 38 & 25 years old) for further inspection of their Volkswagen sedan when they attempted to enter the U.S. from Mexico Friday evening. Following an alert by a CBP narcotics detection canine, CBP officers seized more than 91 pounds of heroin, worth nearly $2.5M, which had been hidden within the vehicle’s floor. They also seized just over three pounds of fentanyl, worth over $41,000; nearly 17 pounds of cocaine, worth more than $383,000 and over 16 pounds of meth, worth almost $49,000.

Saturday night, officers at the Mariposa Crossing referred a Lincoln SUV for additional inspection as the 36-year-old Nogales, Arizona resident attempted to enter the U.S. from Mexico. A canine alert let officers to search the male driver, which led to the discovery of two packages of drugs in his groin. One of them was more than one-quarter pound of heroin, worth $750 and the other was one-half pound of meth, worth $1,500.

Early Sunday morning, officers at the Dennis DeConcini Crossing referred a 22-year-old Caborca, Sonora, Mexico, man for a further inspection of his Mazda SUV. While searching the vehicle, they located several packages of drugs within the spare tire well as well as within the fuel tank. The packages contained 59 pounds of meth, worth more than $177,000. 

Officers seized the drugs and vehicles. The subjects were arrested and then turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.