Yuma BP seize over $145K worth of hard narcotics

Border Patrol agents working at the Wellton Interstate 8 checkpoint seized around 42 pounds of hard narcotics in two separate smuggling attempts on Thursday.

Wellton agents referred a gray XPRESS shuttle van to secondary inspection for an immigration check of its passengers at about 8:40 a.m.

During the inspection, a canine alerted to an odor it is trained to detect and one passenger of the van, an 18-year-old man, was found to have 1.8 pounds of heroin. The heroin has an estimated value of $125,000.

The second incident happened at around 11:10 a.m. A canine alerted to a grey Ford Expedition leading agents to refer the vehicle to secondary inspection. Following a search, agents found 25 bundles with over 40 pounds of methamphetamine. The driver was a 38-year-old U.S. citizen who resides in San Luis, Ariz.

Both men were arrested and all drugs were confiscated.