Drug Seizures Keep CBP Officers Busy in Nogales

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TUCSON, Ariz. – Customs and Border Protection officers arrested two people last Friday, for their alleged involvement in separate attempts to smuggle a combined 100 pounds of methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and marijuana worth more than a half-million-dollars through the Port of Nogales.

Officers working with a CBP narcotics-detection canine at the Mariposa crossing found more than 40 pounds of cocaine, meth and heroin, worth $488,000, in a Cadillac sedan driven by a 44-year-old Mexican woman from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. The drugs were found within both rocker panels.

Later that night, officers at the Mariposa crossing found 52 pounds of marijuana, with a value of $26,000, in a Ford SUV driven by a 20-year-old Mexican man from Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico. The drugs were located within the gas tank.

Officers seized the drugs and vehicles, 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.

-CBP-

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.

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