300 Pounds of Marijuana Seized at Nogales Port of Entry

Fourth Large Seizure Since Friday
Thursday, January 18, 2007

Nogales, Ariz – Narcotics smugglers found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers inspecting commercial imports at the Nogales port of entry don’t let down their guard until every truck has been processed after officers searching the last truck found almost 1,300 pounds of marijuana hidden inside the trailer.

At 8 PM on Tuesday, as operations were ending for the night, CBP officers chose to inspect the last truck in line waiting to bring produce into the United States. The officers chose to use their truck X-Ray system to quickly scan the truck and contents. During the scan, they noticed unusual items loaded on top of the pallets of chili peppers and cucumbers, so they unloaded the trailer to see what it contained were. After removing several pallets, they found 46 bales of marijuana stacked on top of the cartons of produce. The marijuana (1,278 pounds), tractor, and trailer were all seized. The driver, a 44-year-old man from Culiacan, Sinaloa was arrested. Estimated bulk value of the marijuana is $1.2 million.

This is the fourth large seizure at Arizona ports of entry since Friday, January 12th.