Mother and son, 3, arrested in cocaine bust at border

By Susan Shroder, UNION-TRIBUNE
September 10, 2010 at 7:31 p.m.

A Tijuana man and a mother traveling with her 3-year-old son were arrested Thursday in separate cocaine-smuggling attempts at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, officials said.

The first occurred about 10:20 a.m. when a silver 2002 Chevrolet Tracker was referred for further inspection by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer. The driver, a 21-year-old Mexican national, was a member of the U.S. government’s trusted-traveler border-crossing program, called SENTRI.

A narcotics-detection dog alerted to the rear cargo floor of the sport-utility vehicle, where officers found 16 packages of cocaine totaling more than 40 pounds. The estimated street value of the drug is about $405,000.

Then at 3:50 p.m., customs officers were roving through traffic lanes when a drug dog alerted to a green 2002 Ford Explorer. They found 15 packages of cocaine in the SUV’s gas tank, with an estimated street value of $440,000.

The 30-year-old woman, a U.S. citizen, was taken into custody and her son was turned over to Child Protective Services.

Both suspects were being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in downtown San Diego.

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