Officers say woman tried to smuggle cocaine

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Arizona’s Port of San Luis said they arrested a woman after she allegedly tried to smuggle cocaine into the country.

Office of Field Operations officers at the San Luis Pedestrian Crossing referred the 23-year-old U.S. citizen for further inspection when she was entering the U.S. from Mexico early Sunday morning. Following the alert of a CBP narcotics detection canine, CBP officers said they searched the woman and discovered she had concealed packages onto her body. CBP said the woman voluntarily removed three packages that contained more than one-third of a pound of cocaine, worth $8,700.

Officers seized the drugs. The woman was arrested and turned 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.