U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Arizona’s Port of Nogales arrested two Mexican nationals during separate incidents Monday for attempting to smuggle a combined 37 pounds of hard drugs worth an estimated $193,000.
Officers working with a narcotics-detection canine found more than 19 pounds of methamphetamine and over an ounce of heroin in a Chevrolet sedan, driven by a 47-year-old Mexican man attempting to enter the U.S. through the Mariposa crossing Monday morning. The drugs have a combined value of almost $59,000.
Monday afternoon, officers at the Dennis DeConcini crossing referred a 26-year-old Mexican woman for a secondary search of her Ford truck. A CBP canine subsequently helped officers locate nearly 10 pounds of cocaine and over 8 pounds of meth, worth close to $134,000 combined.
Officers seized the drugs and vehicles, and turned both subjects over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.