Yuma Sector Canine Team Arrests Permanent Resident Smuggling $450K in Cocaine

YUMA, Ariz. – Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents from Wellton Station working at the immigration checkpoint on Interstate 8 seized narcotics in an attempted drug smuggling event early Monday morning.

At approximately 2:00 a.m., a U.S. Border Patrol canine alerted to a Dodge Charger with a single female occupant attempting to travel through the checkpoint. Agents directed the vehicle to the secondary inspection area for further investigation. A search of the vehicle yielded 28 packages of cocaine and 10 packages of suspected fentanyl in the form of blue pills. The contraband was located inside the vehicle’s front wheels and in two spare tires in the trunk. The cocaine weighed approximately 34 pounds with an estimated street value of over $450,000. The suspected fentanyl weighed over 8 pounds, and if determined to be fentanyl, the pills would have an estimated street value of approximately $121,000.

The female driver, a 35-year-old Lawfully Admitted for Permanent Residence (LAPR) from Mexico, was arrested on drug smuggling charges. The narcotics and the vehicle were seized.

Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents continue to intercept drug smugglers attempting to transport deadly drugs into the interior of the United States. Once narcotics are delivered into the hands of distributors, they often cut other substances into the drugs to increase their profit. Cutting drugs is a dangerous aspect of consuming illicit drugs since the mixing process is often non-uniform and the added substances can be harmful.