A Mexican man, who claimed he thought he was only smuggling money into Mexico, was sentenced this month for smuggling payload of drugs.
Angel Daniel Miranda-Contreras, 29, of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, was sentenced last week to 41 months in prison after pleading guilty on April 10, 2023, to Importation of Fentanyl, Importation of Heroin, Importation of Methamphetamine, and Importation of Cocaine.
According to the Department of Justice, Miranda-Contreras crossed the border from Mexico into the United States in a 2015 Volkswagon Crossfox at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona on August 5, 2022. Concealed in hidden compartments inside the vehicle were 47 kilograms of fentanyl, five kilograms of methamphetamine, two kilograms of cocaine, and 870 grams of heroin.
At the time of his arrest, Miranda-Contreras claimed that he was unaware that he was smuggling illegal narcotics into the United States, but that he had only agreed to smuggle money from the United States to Mexico.