USBP: Texas Man Allegedly Caught with Bottles of Meth, Thought it Was Steroids

A Texas border man who said he thought he was carrying bottles with steroids ended up getting arrested on drug trafficking charges. The liquid inside the bottles was not an anabolic substance. His car was allegedly carrying 27 bottles of liquid methamphetamines.

Court records obtained by Breitbart Texas reveal that 20-year-old Jose Luis Ponce is accused of driving a Honda Fit north from Laredo towards a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint where agents caught him with the drugs.

However, the court records shown at the bottom of the story show that Ponce’s drug detention took place earlier this year on March 25, but his arrest came on September 4. It remains unclear if the difference in dates is due to an error in the criminal complaints or if the Ponce was released after the initial drug seizure and then later arrested months later.

Following his arrest, Ponce went before a magistrate judge who formally charged him with smuggling 27 liters (almost 7 gallons) of methamphetamine.

The March 25 arrest took place when Ponce drove his car to the checkpoint. A border patrol dog alerted to something being hidden in the trunk of the vehicle. The agents sent Ponce to a secondary inspection where they found the 27 bottles of methamphetamine.

During questioning by the agents, Ponce said that he believed he was moving a load of steroids from Nuevo Laredo to Dallas. If Ponce was able to get the drugs to Dallas, he was going to be paid $11,000 upon delivery.

Nuevo Laredo is considered by Mexican authorities to be Zeta stronghold and the Texas city of Laredo is primarily under the influence of that cartel/ However a recent intelligence report by the DA and published by Breitbart Texas revealed that in a lesser extent, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel also have an influence in Laredo.

Historically, methamphetamine and heroin have been products handled primarily by the Sinaloa Cartel which is one of the leading cartels in Dallas, where the Ponce’s shipment was allegedly headed.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.