Drug Mules Arrested with 100 Pounds of Meth in Arizona Desert

Border Patrol agents from the Tucson Sector encountered Mexican nationals hiking through the desert carrying backpacks. The agent seized more than 100 pounds of methamphetamine being carried by the “drug mules.”

Tucson Sector agents patrolling near the village of Vaya Chin, Arizona, on Sunday morning encountered three men they suspected to be illegal immigrants, according to information obtained from Border Patrol officials. The three men were wearing backpacks while hiking through the desert.

The agents interviewed the three men and identified them as Mexican nationals illegally present in the United States. A search of the backpacks led to the discovery of small packages containing what the agents believed to be drugs.

The agents then arrested the three illegal aliens and transported them to the station for processing. A test identified the drugs as being positive for the “characteristics of methamphetamine,” officials reported. The smuggled drugs weighed in excess of 100 pounds, officials stated.

Border Patrol officials turned the drugs and the three Mexican nationals over to ICE Homeland Security Investigations agents for further investigation and preparation of charges under drug smuggling and immigration violation charges.

“U.S. Border Patrol’s mission is to protect our nation’s borders,” officials said in a written statement. “Thanks to the vigilance and dedication of Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents, the dangerous drugs seized in this incident will not hit the streets of our nation.”

Elsewhere in Arizona, Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents arrested a U.S. citizen attempting to smuggle drugs through an interior immigration checkpoint. Agents searched a shuttle van that entered the Interstate 8 immigration checkpoint in southwest Arizona.

A K-9 alerted to the possible presence of drugs on one of the passengers. The agents searched the passenger and found packages taped to his body containing 263 grams of fentanyl and 277 grams of black tar heroin. The agents arrested the 19-year-old U.S. citizen on drug smuggling charges.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.