U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Port of Nogales stopped five individuals with a combined 136 pounds of methamphetamine and heroin, worth nearly $415,000, during separate weekend incidents at the Dennis DeConcini crossing.
A CBP officer working at the pedestrian lane referred three women from Anchorage, Alaska, one age 33, one 30-year-old, and a 29-year-old, for further inspection Friday morning when they attempted to enter the U.S. A subsequent search revealed two women were carrying meth concealed within their pelvic cavities; the third woman concealed a package of heroin in her purse. The drugs weighed more than one pound and have a combined value of $11,000.
Saturday morning, officers referred a 47-year-old U.S. woman for an additional inspection of her Dodge SUV. A CBP canine alerted to the vehicle’s spare tire area where officers discovered almost 43 pounds of meth, worth close to $129,000.
Approximately on hour later, officers referred a 21-year-old woman from Mexico for a secondary search of her Dodge sedan. A CBP narcotics-detection canine alerted to the vehicle which contained 92 pounds of meth, worth an estimated $275,000.
Officers seized the drugs and vehicles involved. All five subjects were arrested for narcotics smuggling and were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.