Nogales CBP officers seize hard drugs

Contributed Photo/Courtesy U.S. Customs and Border Protection: A search of a pedestrian border crosser led to the discovery of a package of heroin hidden inside her bra. 

Contributed Article/Courtesy U.S. Customs and Border Protection

NOGALES – U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations officers at Arizona’s Port of Nogales arrested a Mexican national & a U.S. citizen involved in connection with two separate failed smuggling attempts over the past weekend.  

CBP officers at the Morley Pedestrian Crossing referred a 25-year-old Mesa, woman for further questioning as she attempted to enter the United States on Friday afternoon. A search of the woman led to the discovery of a single package, which was concealed within her bra. The package held more than one pound of heroin, with an estimated value of nearly $34,000.

Contributed Photo/Courtesy U.S. Customs and Border Protection: Officers found nearly a pound of fentanyl pills inside of the spare tire of a smuggling vehicle.

Saturday morning, officers at the Mariposa Crossing referred a 27-year-old Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, man for additional inspection of his Nissan sedan. After a CBP narcotics detection canine alerted to a scent it is trained to detect, officers removed nearly 50 packages of drugs from the quarter panels and the spare tire. The packages contained nearly a pound of fentanyl pills, worth more than $11,000 as well as more than 49 pounds of meth, worth an estimated value of more than $148,000.

Officers seized the drugs as well as the vehicle. The subjects were both arrested and then turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.