LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Monday night, U.S. Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint north of Las Cruces, seized narcotics worth more than $1 million from a single pickup truck.
While conducting a routine immigration inspection, Border Patrol Agents stopped a 2007 black Dodge Ram for further investigation. Agents interviewed the occupants, who were both Mexican nationals in possession of valid Border Crossing Visas. After the occupants consented to a vehicle search, a U.S. Border Patrol canine performed a non-intrusive sniff of the vehicle and alerted, indicating the possible presence of narcotics.
Border Patrol agents then carried out a thorough search of the vehicle and found 35 plastic wrapped bundles inside the gas tank - a type of concealment often used by narcotics smugglers. The bundles contained over 38 pounds of methamphetamine, over 2 pounds of heroin, and half a pound of pills believe to be oxycodone. The street value of all the narcotics is estimated at more than $1,200,000. The vehicle and narcotics were turned over to DEA.
“Our U.S. Border Patrol immigration checkpoints in Texas and New Mexico in recent weeks have resulted in numerous seizures of narcotics and interdictions of human smuggling attempts,” said Gloria Chavez, Interim Chief for the Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector. “These types of arrests and seizures demonstrate how effective these checkpoints are to our national security.”
It is important to note that an arrest should not be considered evidence of guilt, and subjects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.