Citizen Staff Writer
LA MONICA EVERETT-HAYNES
lmhaynes@tucsoncitizen.com
An X-ray system and the alert nose of a drug dog helped officers at the Nogales Port of Entry seize more than 3 tons of marijuana.
Shortly before 5 p.m. Saturday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered the marijuana hidden in a refrigerated trailer behind pallets holding tomatoes, said Brian D. Levin, spokesman for the Office of Field Operation.
The 6,160 pounds have an estimated street value of nearly $10 million, he said.
The truck was on its way to X-ray screening when a drug dog picked up the scent of marijuana, Levin said. It was when the truck was screened that officers realized what they’d found. The inspection station processes more than 1,200 trucks a day, Levin said.
A 31-year-old driver from Nogales, Son., was arrested, and the 2006 Kenworth T-300 was seized along with the drugs, Levin said. The tomatoes were loaded on another truck and shipped into the United States. The driver’s name was not immediately available.