EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A rancher and his wife are facing federal drug charges after allegedly returning to the U.S. from Mexico with 23.3 pounds of cocaine stashed in their pickup.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers monitoring traffic on Sunday at the Santa Teresa (New Mexico) Port of Entry noticed anomalies in a vehicle passing through a low energy X-ray portal at the border crossing.
CBP waited for the red Dodge Ram to arrive at an inspection booth to question the male driver and a female occupant. Court records show Federico Rocha Lucero and Veronica Solano stated they were going home to Albuquerque, New Mexico, after visiting relatives and staying at a ranch Rocha owns in Durango, Mexico.
Border officers sent the travelers and their pickup to a secondary inspection area, where a drug-sniffing dog alerted its handlers to possible contraband in the rear seats of the Ram.
The officers found 12 plastic wrapped bundles containing a white powdery substance that tested positive for cocaine. The bundles held 23.3 pounds of cocaine.
In an interview with Homeland Security Investigations agents, Rocha said he and his wife spent several days in the mountains of Durango tending to their livestock with no telephone access. Rocha said his brother told him the red Dodge Ram was missing and presumed stolen.
Rocha said the Ram was “returned” with no visible damage after being missing for four days and that he and his wife returned to the U.S. in it afterwards.
Interviewed separately, Solano allegedly said she “had nothing to do with what’s going on” and that her husband “made her drive” during this return trip to the U.S. and a previous trip they took. CBP said the couple last crossed from Mexico to the United States last Aug. 19.
Court records allege the wife volunteered to agents that her husband “has been doing drugs,” has a criminal record and a pending court date in Albuquerque.
A search of the couple’s cellphones allegedly revealed they had made multiple calls during the time they claimed not having cellphone service. A WhatsApp message thread also revealed Solano had arranged with an unknown individual to pick up the Ram for the return trip.
Solano declined to answer additional questions and called for an attorney.
Rocha and Solano made an initial appearance on Wednesday in U.S. federal district court in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on charges of importation and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. They have a preliminary detention hearing on Nov. 10.
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