McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Border Patrol arrested six people and seized more than 560 pounds of cocaine Saturday morning near Sarita.
At 8:15 a.m. Saturday, a white Ford F-150 stopped at the Border Patrol checkpoint south of Sarita for an immigration inspection, according to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas. During the stop, a K-9 smelled something suspicious.
Border Patrol sent the Ford F-150 to secondary inspection, where agents found 114 packages of cocaine stuffed in travel bags.
Agents with Homeland Security Investigations, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, questioned the occupants of the Ford F-150 about the cocaine.
One of the people in the truck, a woman named Delia Ramirez, declined to speak with agents. The other person, however, confessed to transporting cocaine.
Juan Carlos Zuniga “also admitted to supplying narcotics to two (2) vehicles that drove in tandem” with the Ford F-150, according to the criminal complaint.
Based on the information Zuniga provided, Border Patrol started looking for a black GMC Sierra and a white Buick Envista.
The GMC Sierra stopped at the checkpoint just 30 minutes later.
Border Patrol sent the GMC Sierra to secondary inspection, where agents found 67 packages of cocaine hidden in similar travel bags.
Homeland Security Investigations questioned the driver of the GMC Sierra, a man named Luis Ramirez Jasso, and the passenger, a woman named Yaqueline Chapa-Ramirez.
Agents tracked down the Buick Envista about a mile from the checkpoint.
During a search, they found another 46 packages of cocaine hidden in travel bags.
The passenger, a woman named Mariana Zungia, declined to speak with Homeland Security Investigations.
Agents had better luck with the driver, a woman named Magdalena Sauceda, who handed over her phone.
Sauceda had exchanged text messages with Zuniga — the man from the Ford F-150 — “discussing the purchase of travel bags” and justifications for her “unexplained income,” according to the criminal complaint.
Court records don’t list attorneys for any of the six people arrested on Saturday. They remain in federal custody and couldn’t be reached for comment.
If convicted on federal drug trafficking charges, they could face 10 years to life in federal prison.
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