5 drug smuggling attempts thwarted


Published/Last Modified on Monday, June 15, 2009 8:45 PM MDT


BISBEE — Customs and Border Protection officers at the Douglas port of entry recently stopped five narcotics smuggling attempts totaling more than 625 pounds of marijuana, with an estimated street value of $1.5 million, according to a press release.


The first seizure took place Wednesday, just after 7:30 a.m., when a 23-year-old man identified as a Mexican national drove a 2001 GMC van to the port. Intensive examination of the vehicle yielded packages hidden inside the gas tank. Officers removed 37 packages containing 61 pounds of marijuana.

Later that day at noon, a 21-year-old man identified as a Mexican national drove a 1994 Nissan Altima and a narcotic detector dog alerted to the presence of narcotics. Officers removed 27 packages of marijuana, weighing more than 30 pounds.

Then at 8:30 p.m. that day, officers arrested a Mexican national woman, 19, after finding 90 packages of marijuana, weighing almost 250 pounds, hidden in the bed compartment and gas tank of a 1994 Chevrolet pickup.

On Thursday at about 2:30 p.m., an officer screening incoming vehicles became suspicious of an American woman, 43, and driver of a 2003 Dodge Ram pickup. Officers discovered a false wall in the bed of the vehicle. They removed 97 packages of marijuana weighing more than 175 pounds.

On that same date at 2:50 p.m., a 33-year-old man identified as a Mexican national was driving a 1994 Chevrolet pickup and officers discovered 107 pounds of marijuana in the fuel tank.

The vehicles and marijuana were seized and the cases were turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for further investigation.

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