Customs and Border Protection officers at Arizona’s Port of Lukeville arrested a Phoenix man attempting to smuggle more than a ton of marijuana, over the weekend.
Saturday afternoon, officers referred a 55-year-old man for further inspection of his motorhome as he attempted to enter the U.S. from Mexico. After a CBP canine alerted officers to an odor it was trained to detect, they removed more than 120 bundles of marijuana from the storage compartments, walls, and floor of the motorhome. The drugs weighed almost 2,448 pounds and are worth nearly $1,224,000.
Officers arrested the subject and turned him over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. Officers also seized the drugs and the vehicle.
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.