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News & Events

53 pounds of cocaine found at crossing
12-08-2009

EL PASO — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, with the help of a drug-sniffing dog named Popeye, made the largest cocaine seizure in five years at the Santa Teresa port of entry, a CBP spokesman said Monday.

The alleged smuggler was identified as Ruby Rodriguez, 36, of Deming. She faces federal charges of importation of a controlled substance and possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, said Chief CBP Officer Ruben Jauregui.

The 53-pound cocaine seizure occurred at the Santa Teresa port of entry Saturday.

Inconsistencies in her statements Saturday to a CBP officer at an inspection booth raised suspicions, Jauregui said. The officer, he said, suspected Rodriguez was hiding something and referred her to a secondary inspection.

In the second inspection, Popeye alerted officers to the glove compartment area of Rodriguez's 2000 Honda Odyssey, he said.

After further inspection, officers found 23 bundles of cocaine hidden in a nonfactory compartment in the dashboard, Jauregui said.

“This is the largest cocaine seizure CBP officers at the Santa Teresa port of entry have made in more than five years,” Director of Field Operations in El Paso Ana Hinojosa said in a written statement. “Despite exceptionally heavy traffic on Saturday, CBP officers remained focused on their mission and were able to stop a sizeable drug load from entering the U.S.”

Drug seizure figures for the Santa Teresa port of entry were not available.

Officers of the El Paso Sector, which extends from Columbus, N.M., to Presidio, seized 1.5 million pounds of narcotics in fiscal year 2009 (September to October). Almost 39,000 people were arrested in the drug busts.

Cocaine seizures weighing more than 53 pounds are not uncommon at border entries throughout El Paso County, according to El Paso Times archives.

The most recent bust occurred at the Paso del Norte Bridge in May.

In that seizure, officers discovered 61 pounds of cocaine in the quarter panels of a 2006 Dodge Ram 2500. The driver of the truck, Fernando Sandoval Mendoza, 28, of Chihuahua, was arrested.

By STEPHANIE SANCHEZ

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