Published: 05.25.2007
Border busts: $9M in drugs, 5 suspects

RYN GARGULINSKI

Tucson Citizen
A potpourri of drugs with an estimated street value of more than $9 million was seized at the Mexican border Tuesday, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman said in a news release Wednesday.
The first seizure occurred just before 7 a.m. at the San Luis Port of Entry when a 30-year-old Mexican man was found to have 121 pounds of marijuana hidden behind the back seat and spare tire of his 1999 GMC pickup, CBP Officer Brian Levin said.
At 9:45 a.m., also at the San Luis port, a 26-year-old Mexican man tried to walk across the border with nearly 5 pounds of methamphetamine strapped to his legs, Levin said.
Around 4 p.m., at the commercial import facility in Nogales, a 37-year-old man from Nogales, Son., had 246 pounds of cocaine hidden in his truckload of peppers, Levin said.
Another load of peppers was stopped around 5 p.m at the same port, Levin said, with a 23-year-old Mexican citizen at the wheel and 245 pounds of cocaine in a compartment in the gas tank.
Levin said the pepper truck busts were a result of the work of drug dogs Robbie and Duco, respectively.
The day's final bust came around 8 p.m. at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales when a 27-year-old American citizen from Phoenix had hidden compartments in the side panels of a pickup truck stuffed with 30 pounds of methamphetamine.
Overall, CBP officers arrested five people, none of whom was named, and seized a total of 35 pounds of methamphetamine worth an estimated $948,000, 121 pounds of marijuana worth an estimated $193,000 and 491 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $8.1 million.

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