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Border agents find $95K worth of heroin sewn into vest

Citizen Staff Writer
Law and Order Report

FERNANDA ECHÁVARRI

fernanda@tucsoncitizen.com

Drug smugglers have recently been using more creative methods for transporting drugs through the U.S-Mexico border, officials said.

Border Patrol agents Monday morning found more than 1.6 pounds of heroin sewn into a man’s vest, said Michael Scioli, a Border Patrol spokesman.

“This particular incident was pretty unique,” he said.

Agents watching the camera system saw the man crossing into the United States illegally near Nogales at 8 a.m. Monday.

The man’s vest had dozens of small pouches containing the heroin, Scioli said. The drug’s estimated street value is more than $95,000.

The man and the heroin were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

“The last creative attempt we saw was last month, when a man had insoles full of heroin inside his shoes,” he said.

Tuesday afternoon, agents seized the largest amount of marijuana for fiscal 2009 – which began Oct. 1 – almost 2 tons in a stolen pickup south of Arivaca, Scioli said. The marijuana, with an estimated street value of $2 million, was found in the abandoned truck from Tempe, he said.

The amount of marijuana smuggled north of the border increases in September and October, harvesting months for the plant, Scioli said.

The Border Patrol’s Tucson sector leads the country in drug seizures, he said, with more than 770,000 pounds of marijuana confiscated from October 2007 through August.

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