TUCSON, Ariz. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested two Mexican men for their separate alleged attempts to smuggle a combined 193 pounds of heroin and methamphetamine through the Port of Nogales over the weekend.
Officers at the Nogales Commercial Facility referred Sinuel Gonzalez-Dominguez, 34, of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, for further inspection of the tractor-trailer load of cucumbers he was transporting through the port on Dec. 18. After a drug alert by a CBP narcotics-detection canine, officers searched the cucumber shipment and found nearly 155 pounds of meth, worth almost $465,000, within the trailer’s rear doors.
On Dec. 20, officers at the Dennis DeConcini crossing referred Edwin Elevier Lara-Ruiz, 20, of Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, for further inspection of the Dodge truck he was driving. After a CBP narcotics-detection canine alerted to the presence of drugs within the vehicle, officers found more than 23 pounds of meth, worth nearly $70,000, and close to 15 pounds of heroin, valued at almost $206,000.
CBP officers seized all drugs and vehicles, and turned both subjects over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.