San Luis CBP Officers Seize $377K in Drugs

TUCSON, Ariz. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Arizona’s Port of San Luis arrested two Mexican nationals after finding a combined 92 pounds of cocaine and methamphetamine during two inspections Monday.

Officers searching a Chrysler sedan, driven by an 18-year-old Mexican woman, were led to the rear rocker panels by a CBP narcotics-detection canine. Officers then found 12 pounds of cocaine and 34 pounds of meth, worth an estimated $240,000 combined.

A short time later, officers referred a 27-year-old Mexican man, for a secondary inspection of a Dodge sedan using a CBP narcotics-detection canine. During the search, officers located 45 pounds of meth, worth more than $136,000, hidden throughout the vehicle.

Officers seized the drugs and vehicles, 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.

-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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