Drugs smugglers stopped at the border

At the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge in Texas on May 7, CBP officers referred a 20-year-old man from Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico and the silver Nissan Juke he was driving for further inspection.

During the secondary inspection, which included the assistance of a canine team, officers discovered 48 packages of alleged methamphetamine that were concealed within the vehicle. The total weight of the drugs is 92.51 pounds (41.96 kg).

CBP OFO seized the alleged methamphetamine along with the vehicle and arrested the Reynosa resident. The case remains under investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents.

Packages containing 92.51 pounds of
methamphetamine seized by CBP officers at
Hidalgo International Bridge. Courtesy of Border Patrol

And on Tuesday, May 7, in Arizona, CBP Officers at the Dennis DeConcini Crossing referred a 29-year-old Mexican national for further inspection of his Mercury SUV when he attempted to enter the U.S. from Mexico Tuesday afternoon. After a CBP narcotics detection canine alerted to a scent it is trained to detect, officers removed 80 packages from all four doors.

The packages were identified as more than 78 pounds of meth, with an estimated value of nearly $235,000. They also seized more than six pounds of heroin, worth almost $160,000 as well as more than six pounds of fentanyl, worth $84,000.

Officers seized the drugs and vehicle. The subject was arrested and then turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

Officers removed packages
from all four doors of a
smuggling vehicle. Courtesy of Border Patrol

 

Massive heroin and gang crackdown in North County, California

After a year long investigation named “Operation No Worries” by the North County Regional Gang Task Force in California, consisting of extensive surveillance, months of federal wiretaps, and dozens of undercover drug and gun buys; the Gang Task Force along with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies set out early yesterday morning to make numerous arrest and perform investigation searches in over 20 locations in Oceanside, Vista, and other areas in North County as well as in Kingman, Arizona. Their morning efforts led to the arrest of 14 more defendants, bringing the total to 46 arrested and in federal or state custody. The Gang Task Force and other law #enforcement continue the search for seven defendants plus two in Mexico.

Courtesy of ICE

According to the ten federal indictments that was unsealed yesterday, many of the 55 defendants are documented members or associates of area street gangs, including the Vista Home Boys, Varrio Fallbrook Locos, Varrio Carlsbad Locos, Encinitas Tortilla Flats, Varrio San Marcos and Escondido Viejo Diablos; charges against them range from heroin drug distribution, firearms trafficking, money laundering, vehicles, deaths, robberies and burglaries, assaults and methamphetamine distribution.

Many of those in custody were scheduled for 2 pm arraignment yesterday and today before U. S. Magistrate Judge Karen S Crawford. Throughout the investigation and searches authorities seized numerous counts of heroin, methamphetamine and 25 firearms, including handguns, revolvers and assault rifles. They also discovered that drugs and guns were being sold and stored throughout North County neighborhoods, including across the street from Vista high school.

According to the charging documents, one of the defendants named Yadira Esmeralda Villalvazo, 38, aka “Pini”, from Tijuana, Mexico led a trafficking organization that used street gang members to distribute heroin. Villalvazo, herself attended Vista high school and was associated with the Vista Home Boys street gang before she was deported in 2002 after a federal drug trafficking conviction. 

She now owns her own Sinaloa Cartel-linked organization in Tijuana, and supplies and sells heroin to at least 25 percent of North County's consumers which grosses her tens of thousands of dollars that are all sent back to Mexico. Also, according to court records, her network supplied great quantities of drugs to a well known heroin ring in Kingman, Arizona. 

Justice Department

 

Video: USCG Cutter Stratton Carries Out Billion Dollar Drug Offload

The Coast Guard Cutter Stratton crew offloads 34 metric tons of cocaine in San Diego on Monday, Aug. 10th, 2015. The drugs were seized in 23 separate interdiction's by Coast Guard cutters and Coast Guard law enforcement teams operating in known drug transiting zones, resulting in an offload valued at more than $1 billion. U. S. Coast Guard video by Petty Officer 2nd Class Patrick Kelley.

This work is free of known copyright restrictions.



Coast Guard Cutter Stratton crew offloads 34 metric tons of cocaine in San Diego on Monday, Aug. 10th, 2015. The drugs were seized in 23 separate interdiction's by Coast Guard cutters and Coast Guard law enforcement teams operating in known drug transiting zones. Official U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Joel Guzman/released.

This work is free of known copyright restrictions.

Article on:  

U.S. Coast Guard keeps record amount of cocaine off U. S. streets

#First Responders Night

English: Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Arizona. Taken by Paul R. Kucher on 13 June 2005. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With all the bad publicity about police today – here is some good news to relish in - four #Arizona police officers will be honored at half time at a college football game for their work on taking gang members and drugs off the streets in Arizona and California. Their work not only ensured safety around college campuses but safety in neighborhoods throughout various communities. Their hard work helped to take 49 bad people off the streets in the Phoenix Area for the sale and distribution of PCP. The arrest also netted a seizure of more than 20 high end vehicles, 23 weapons, narcotics and over $37,000.00 in cash.

Arizona Highway Patrol Association (AHPA) will recognize; Captain Dave Nilson and Detective Aaron Lorenzen from the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Sergeant Chaz Clements and Detective Mercedes Fortune from the Phoenix Police Department on September 25, 2014, at the ASU and UCLA game in Tempe, Arizona. Read full article here.

Nationwide synthetic drug takedown

In the first-ever nationwide law enforcement action against the designer synthetic drug industry, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with assistance from the IRS Criminal Investigations, U.S. Postal Inspection Service,U.S. Customs and Border Protection, FBI, FDA Office of Criminal Investigations, as well as countless state and local law enforcement members in more than 109 U.S. cities, targeted every level of the synthetic designer drug industry, under the name "Operation Log Jam," including retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers.

Read more at: www.examiner.com/article/dea-leads-nationwide-synthetic-drug-takedown

Get high on Watermelons

At the beginning on June our CBP report how they found 2,956 pounds of marijuana in a truck loaded with watermelons.  A 27year old Mexican male truck driver tried to get pass the CBP at the Mariposa commerical checkpoint in Nogales, Arizona.

Acting Nogales Area Port Director Craig Hope said this seizure adds to a list of large narcotics seizures at the ports in Nogales.

“Since the beginning of the fiscal year, Mariposa CBP officers have intercepted 13 attempts to smuggle large amounts marijuana mixed in commercial shipments into United States,” he said. “They have prevented more than 47,550 pounds of the dangerous narcotics worth an estimated at $24 million, from entering our communities.”

It was a real good idea to let truck from Mexico cross our borders, how many actually got through loaded with drugs, humans or what ever illegal items is any ones guess.

CBP can not trust anyone

On Nov. 4, a 26-year-old female Mexican citizen enrolled in the SENTRI trusted traveler program applied for entry at the designated SENTRI pedestrian lane accompanied by her three-year-old daughter. The woman presented her SENTRI card and stated she forgot her daughter’s. She was referred for a more in-depth inspection and verification of the child’s identity.

In the inspection area, the woman began raising her voice at CBP officers and refused to comply with instructions. During her inspection, she struck a CBP officer in the jaw with her elbow. The woman was then restrained and placed in a holding cell.

In addition to being charged for assaulting a CBP officer, the women will have her SENTRI program privileges revoked. Her three-year-old daughter was turned over to the custody of her grandmother.

Later that eveing a 1994 white Toyota Camry driven by a 46-year-old female Mexican citizen applied for admission into the U.S. During the primary inspection a CBP officer asked her to open the trunk of her vehicle and she said it wasn’t functional which lead the CBP officer to pull down the back seats of the vehicle revealing 30 packages of marijuana tightly packed into the trunk. The woman was placed under arrest and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for prosecution.

On Friday, Nov. 5, CBP officers at the Gateway International Bridge came in contact with a man as he drove a 2001 blue BMW Z3 into the country. The driver, identified as a 32-year-old male Mexican citizen who resides in Brownsville, Texas was referred to secondary for further inspection after a primary CBP officer noticed anomalies to the rear of the BMW. CBP officers in the secondary inspection area discovered 10 packages concealed within the sports car. CBP officers removed the packages from the vehicle which had a combined total weight of 25.7 pounds of cocaine.

The cocaine from this seizure has an estimated street value of approximately $822,400. CBP officers turned the man over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) special agents for further investigation. CBP officers seized the narcotics and the vehicle.