Tucson CitizenTucson Citizen

$6M of cocaine, pot seized at border

Citizen Staff Writer
LAW AND ORDER REPORT

A charter bus was stopped at the Nogales border crossing and relieved of 1,577 pounds of marijuana, a CBP spokesman said Friday.

In two earlier busts this week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales seized 62 pounds of cocaine.

Estimated street values of the seized substances were $3.5 million for the cocaine and $2.5 million for the marijuana, Officer Brian Levin said.

Around 2 a.m. Thursday, drug dogs and an X-ray revealed the bus had a hidden compartment stuffed with 179 bundles of marijuana, he said.

Five Mexican nationals – three men and two women – were arrested, Levin said.

In the cocaine seizures, officers on Wednesday arrested a 47-year-old man from Nogales, Son., with 25 pounds of cocaine in his car’s undercarriage. A 26-year-old Nogales, Son., woman was arrested Thursday when 37 pounds of cocaine were discovered hidden in the quarterpanels of her vehicle.

All seven suspects in the drug busts were turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for prosecution, Levin said, and the vehicles and contents were seized.

RYN GARGULINSKI

rynski@tucsoncitizen.com

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