Mexico Trucker Online

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - A state trooper has been charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine after police said they saw him accept two suitcases full of the drug in a parking lot.

The U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement that Department of Public Safety Trooper Jesus Rafael Larrazolo, 35, made his first appearance in federal court Monday. DPS spokeswoman Lisa Block said Larrazolo resigned shortly after his arrest Friday.

Brownsville police and agents from the FBI’s Special Investigations Unit saw Larrazolo pull into a Best Buy parking lot next to another vehicle, then take two suitcases from it. Larrazolo was dressed in street clothes, but identified himself as a trooper when police approached. He was carrying a gun.

There were 26 kilograms of cocaine in the suitcases. According to court records, Larrazolo told a Texas Ranger after his arrest that he had been forced by threats to pick up the drugs.

Block said Larrazolo joined the department in October 2002 and was working as a commercial vehicle enforcement officer in Cameron County. The FBI is investigating the case.

It was not immediately clear from court records if Larrazolo had an attorney.

A Wal-Mart truck driver will face federal charges for allegedly trying to sneak illegal immigrants into the country in a company tractor-trailer.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Alejandro Hernandez, 50, after finding four Mexican nationals locked in the back of his 18-wheeler, according to court filings obtained Monday.

Investigators believe Hernandez made at least five similar smuggling trips through the Falfurrias checkpoint in the last year and was working with another known coyote.

“At Wal-Mart we expect our associates to conduct themselves in a lawful and ethical manner,” company spokesman Don Fogleman said. “This situation is of deep concern.”

ICE agents began following Hernandez on Thursday after receiving a tip about his purported illegal activity, according to the criminal complaint filed in his case.

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A U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspector at the Eagle Pass Port of Entry has been indicted in San Antonio for trying to smuggle marijuana and cocaine through a Border Patrol checkpoint north of Del Rio.

Alex Moses Jr., 28, was indicted Wednesday on one count of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute it and with one count of importation of cocaine.

According to a probable cause affidavit on file in the U.S. District Clerk’s Office here, Moses was arrested at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on U.S. Highway 277 about 30 miles north of Del Rio on Sunday, Sept. 28.

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Mexico’s government plans to search 10 percent of all vehicles entering the country from the United States in an effort to curb arms smuggling, the attorney general said Tuesday.

Most illegal weapons in Mexico come from the United States, according to officials in both countries.

Many end up in the hands of powerful drug cartels who supply most of the cocaine entering the United States from South America.

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Border Patrol agents seized more than 1,400 pounds of marijuana over the weekend in four separate busts, according to Laredo Sector Border Patrol

The most recent seizure occurred Monday at Texas 16 traffic checkpoint.

Hebbronville agents observed a white pickup truck heading northbound make an abrupt U-turn prior to reaching the checkpoint.

Agents observed the driver of the vehicle pull onto the south side of the road and exit the vehicle.

The driver quickly jumped over a barbed wire fence and fled into the brush.

Agents saw several bundles of marijuana wrapped in cellophane in plain view inside the passenger seat and in the bed of the pickup truck.

One hundred individually wrapped bundles of marijuana, weighing 620.7 pounds and valued at $496,560, were recovered from the truck.

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Tunnel Found In Mexicali Two Blocks South Of The Border

Police arrested eight men Monday afternoon, who are believed to be involved with digging a tunnel that was headed towards Calexico, Ca. The men were found on a corner house located on 134 Callejon Madero, just 2 blocks south of the border. Currently, they are being detained at the local police department in Mexicali, Mexico. At about 2 p.m. police says a concerned citizen called police and said there was suspicious active in the home. Minutes later police moved in to find 8 men digging a tunnel which was headed north to the United States.

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