$152,000 seized from spare tire at Los Indios bridge

by Sergio Chapa
Posted: 02.01.2011 at 7:43 PM
Sergio is KGBT's Interactive Manager and a reporter for VALLEYCENTRAL.COM.

A spare tire that looked a little too clean gave him away.

A San Benito man behind bars after he allegedly tried to smuggle more than $152,000 dollars into into Mexico.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested Arturo Aleman on federal bulk cash smuggling charges on Monday.

The 40-year-old San Benito man was head into Mexico at the Los Indios International Bridge in his 2000 Ford Expedition.

Court records show an alert customs officer was performing an outbound inspection saw that Aleman’s spare tire looked too clean.

An inspection revealed 10 packages with $152,881 dollars hidden inside the tire.

Authorties learned the money came from the Houston area and that Aleman was supposed to get paid $2,000 dollars to deliver it in Mexico.

Aleman appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Felix Recio in Brownsville on Tuesday.

Court records show that Aleman is a Mexican national.

Judge Recio denied bond for Aleman until a Thursday afternoon hearing.

http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=575354