EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A Mexican national is facing federal drug charges after an X-ray machine alerted border officers at the Ysleta port of entry to anomalies in the floorboard of a white Chevrolet Suburban.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers sent the Suburban and its driver to a secondary inspection area where a canine officer pointed CBP officers to the rear of the vehicle. Officials uncovered 93.8 kilos (206 pounds) of a substance later determined to be crystalized methamphetamine, federal officials said.
According to a complaint affidavit filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of West Texas, the driver identified as Luis Angel Cabada Carnero told Drug Enforcement Administration agents that a drug cartel in Mexico paid him $10,000 to deliver the crystal meth to a predetermined location in El Paso.
Cabada said the undisclosed drug trafficking organization purchased the Suburban, registered it under his name in Mexico, and loaded it with drugs on two occasions. According to the complaint, Cabada said he first crossed into the United States with a load of drugs in the Suburban two months ago and nobody caught him.
The street value of crystal meth, or “ice,” varies according to location, purity and demand, according to the Justice Department. A December 2022 bust in Dallas, for instance, involved 120 pounds of “ice” the DOJ valued at $1 million to $2 million. Last March, authorities in West Virginia seized 208 pounds of crystal meth they said was worth $9.4 million.
The drug is highly addictive, creates agitation, raises body temperature and high doses can cause convulsions, cardiovascular collapse or death, the DEA said.
Cabada on Monday made his initial appearance in a federal courtroom in El Paso. Wearing a navy blue El Paso County Detention Center uniform, he told U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne T. Berton he would be hiring his own attorney.
The suspect will be back in federal court on Thursday for his detention hearing on a charge of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
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