EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – An El Paso federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted two Texas women who allegedly tried to smuggle six cardboard boxes packed with .50-caliber bullets to Mexico.
Nayareli Pulido and Dayana Arleth Cornejo had already crossed the Bridge of the Americas from El Paso to Juarez, Mexico, with the ammo on Dec. 9. However, officials on the Mexican side of the port of entry denied them entry because their 2020 Nissan Altima had temporary paper plates, court records show.
The women had no choice but to return to the United States. The Nissan passed through one of the newly installed low-energy portals (LEPs) on the U.S. side of the bridge, which alerted Customs and Border Protection officers to anomalies in the trunk, according to the criminal complaint.
These are the newly installed Low-Energy Portals at the Bridge of the Americas in El Paso, Texas, that alert border officers to anomalies in vehicles before they reach inspection booths.
After the women presented Texas identification cards to a CBP officer, they were sent to a secondary inspection area where the high-caliber bullets allegedly were found. That type of ammo typically is used for sniper rifles capable of hitting targets up to 1,000 meters away and able to penetrate light armored vehicles, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Violence Policy Center.
During an interview with Homeland Security Investigations agents, Cornejo allegedly said she and Pulido were in contact with a man in Mexico for whom one of her relatives worked. Court records show Cornejo stated her relatives had illegally exported ammunition to Mexico in the past for this man and that she introduced Pulido to that individual, who offered to give her work.
The same HSI agents interviewed Pulido. She allegedly told them the man asked her to drive vehicles loaded with drugs from Mexico to New York, but changed his mind and would have her bring ammo to Mexico for $55 a box, instead. Court records show Pulido agreed due to “financial need” and opened a bank account where the man deposited money so she would buy the bullets.
A search of Pulido’s cellphone revealed a previous shipment of 500 rounds of 7.62 x 39mm ammo – typically used in AK-47 style rifles – to her home; CBP records show a vehicle registered to Pulido’s father going into Mexico the same day as the delivery with Cornejo driving the car.
Details in the criminal complaint hint at anguish felt by the women once Mexican officials sent them back to the U.S. Pulido told investigators she considered abandoning the cardboard boxes while waiting in line at the bridge; Cornejo said she was so nervous she almost exited the vehicle and crossed into the U.S. on foot.
Both women are facing charges of conspiracy and smuggling goods from the United States. They face arraignment at 9 a.m. on Jan. 16 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne T. Berton in U.S. District Federal Court for the Western District of Texas.
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