TUCSON, Ariz. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Port of Nogales arrested three people during long the 4th of July weekend for attempting to smuggle weapons and a combined 102 pounds of hard drugs worth approximately $830,000.
Officers working the outbound lane at the Dennis DeConcini crossing Friday referred a 19-year-old Casa Grande man for further search of the Dodge sedan he was driving and found two AR-15 rifles and magazines hidden in a trash bag.
On Saturday, officers at the Mariposa crossing referred a 51-year-old woman from Sinaloa, Mexico, for an additional search of her Kia SUV. Using a CBP narcotics-detection canine, officers located close to $358,000 worth of meth, cocaine and heroin concealed in the vehicle’s floor.
Officers working at the DeConcini crossing Sunday with a narcotics-detection canine referred a 30-year-old woman from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, for a secondary inspection of a Honda sedan she was driving. That search turned up more than 27 pounds of heroin, worth close to $471,000, in the vehicle’s rocker panels.
Officers seized the vehicles and contraband, and turned the suspects over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.