3.6M worth of cocaine intercepted
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
03/28/2008

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized $3.6 million in cocaine in separate incidents at the Laredo Port of Entry.At approximately 11 p.m. Sunday, officers at the Lincoln-Juarez Bridge directed a 1989 MCI bus for a secondary examination. When the vehicle, driven by 60-year-old Mexican citizen J. Dolores Manuel Alanis Soto, was screened with a nonintrusive imaging system, "officers noted discrepancies in the rear floor area," according to a CBP statement released March 26.

A CBP canine also alerted officers to the smell of narcotics in the same area.

Officers then found a compartment under the car's floor, which contained 79 pounds of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $2.5 million. Alanis Soto was detained and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, who will process the drug possession charges.

The second incident occurred March 21 at approximately 8 p.m. at the Lincoln-Juarez Bridge, when officers referred a 1999 Ford Taurus, driven by 19-year-old Mexican citizen Monica Guadalupe Rodriguez Velasquez, for a second inspection.

Again, officers used the nonintrusive imaging system and discovered discrepancies in the floor area. Upon examining the area, officers found a floor compartment containing 37 pounds of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $1.1 million.

Rodriguez Velasquez was detained and turned over to ICE agents.


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