More than $167K in hard drugs seized at port
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Arizona’s Port of San Luis said they arrested three people after finding more than 42 pounds of methamphetamine and heroin in separate weekend seizures.
Officers said after searching an Acura sedan Saturday morning, driven by a male 35-year-old U.S. citizen, they located several packages of heroin and meth in the vehicle’s rocker panels. Officers seized nearly three pounds of heroin, worth close to $48,000, and almost 31 pounds of meth, worth approximately $94,000.
That night, officers referred a GMC truck, occupied by a 45-year-old driver and his 43-year-old brother, both U.S. citizens, for a secondary inspection using a CBP narcotics-detection canine. During the search, officers located more than three pounds of meth, worth in excess of, $9,200, strapped to the brother’s legs.
Sunday , a 20-year-old Mexican man was referred for a secondary inspection of his Ford Mustang and more than five pounds of meth, worth almost $16,000, was discovered concealed within the vehicle’s intake manifold.
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.
