U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Arizona’s Port of Lukeville arrested a Mexican national and a Tucson, Arizona resident connected to separate significant seizures of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl totaling nearly 723 pounds.
On November 7, 2019 officers referred a 58-year-old Mexican male for a secondary inspection of his Ford truck as he applied to enter the United States from Mexico in Lukeville, AZ.
A canine alerted to an odor it is trained to detect, leading officers to the discovery of nearly 30 packages of cocaine within a water tank in the bed of the truck, which weighed almost 646 pounds. The drugs are worth an estimated value of nearly $8.8 million.
On November 11, 2019 in the evening, a 31-year-old Tucson, Arizona woman was referred for an additional search of her GMC truck as she attempted to enter the U.S. from Mexico. A canine alert led to the discovery of more than 70 packages of drugs from inside of the fuel tank.
The meth weighed nearly 74 pounds and is valued at more than $66,000, there was also three pounds of fentanyl, worth more than $34,000.
Officers arrested both suspects and turned them over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, while the drugs and the vehicles were seized.
