Driver Arrested After Discovery of $4.5 Million Worth of Marijuana Hidden in Tomato Shipment

Friday, February 16, 2007

Nogales, Ariz. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers at the Nogales port of entry yesterday arrested a trucker hauling a shipment of tomatoes from Mexico yesterday after finding more than a ton of marijuana hidden among the pallets of produce.

At a little after 1 p.m. yesterday, CBP officers screening commercial trucks and imports coming into the U.S. from Mexico noticed the driver behaving nervously when asked routine questions and chose to perform an intensive inspection of the vehicle and the produce inside. The officers sent the truck to be screened using a mobile X-ray truck, designed to quickly obtain an image of the vehicle and commodity to determine if anomalies exist.

CBP officers noticed discrepancies in the trailer’s contents and decided to unload the trailer to perform a complete inspection. As the trailer was opened and the contents were being unloaded, large bundles of marijuana were discovered stacked between pallets throughout the trailer. A total of 111 bundles were removed, weighing 2,763 pounds. The narcotics with an estimated $4.5 million street value, truck and trailer were all seized.