Customs agents in Nogales seize drugs from shoes, body cavity

Customs officers in Nogales seized heroin from a man's shoes and cocaine hidden in a woman's body cavity on Aug.8,2016

A news release from Customs and Border Protection said that on Aug. 8 a 33-year-old woman from Tucson crossing on foot at the DeConcini port of entry was sent for a secondary inspection after a dog alerted to the presence of drugs on her.

The woman was searched and officers found ¼-of-a-pound of cocaine in a body cavity. The drugs were worth about $3,000.

In a second incident that day at the Morley pedestrian crossing officers seized more than a pound of heroin hidden in a man's shoes. The drugs were shaped as insoles of the man's shoes, CBP said. The drugs were worth about $21,000.

The 18-year-old man from Nogales, Arizona, and the Tucson woman were turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.

In another case July 30, officers at the DeConcini crossing arrested four Tucson residents after discovering nearly 2 pounds of meth hidden on and in their bodies, the CBP said in a news release. Officers sent a Jeep SUV with five occupants to a secondary inspection after a drug dog alerted to the vehicle. No drugs were found on the driver, but officers discovered a 22-year-old woman was hiding a meth-filled condom in her underwear. Also, two female passengers, ages 49 and 43, removed items containing meth that were concealed within body cavities, the CBP said.

Another passenger, a 40-year-old man had to be medically monitored until Aug. 1 when he safely passed from his body a condom filled with heroin, the CBP said.

The drugs were worth a total of about $11,000, the CBP said. The four people were turned over to ICE's Homeland Security Investigations.