Man allegedly tries to smuggle heroin inside bean cans
February 22, 2011 11:01 PM
By JARED TAYLOR, The Monitor

HIDALGO — Customs officers arrested a man who appeared to have beans in his suitcase, but not like the ones grandma used to make.

Bryan Cesar Martinez told U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers Monday night that he was headed to Boston after visiting his grandmother in Guatemala, court documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in McAllen.

Martinez, 19, was the sole passenger in a taxi that crossed the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge, officers said.

During a search of Martinez’s luggage, officers found four cans of beans. When asked about the cans and as officers inspected them, Martinez apparently became defensive, court documents state.

An officer opened one of the cans and found a powdery substance inside later identified as brown heroin.

The four heroin-filled cans weighed a total of about 7.5 pounds. Customs officers arrested Martinez early Tuesday morning.

Martinez appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Ormsby on Tuesday in McAllen. Martinez remains behind bars without bond pending a hearing set for Friday.

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