On Sunday morning, a 53-year-old Nogales man was arrested by Nogales Station Border Patrol agents after they found nearly 40 pounds of cocaine in his vehicle during an immigration inspection at the Interstate 19 Immigration Checkpoint.
Agents referred the man for a secondary inspection after a U.S. Border Patrol canine alerted to an odor it is trained to detect. Agents subsequently discovered 16 packages of cocaine, weighing nearly 40 pounds combined, hidden within the Honda Accord’s rear quarter panels and driver’s-side back door.
Agents arrested and charged the driver for drug smuggling. The drugs, worth approximately $435,000, and vehicle were seized and turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.