Claudia Ibarra, Arizona Woman, Arrested For Smuggling Pound Of Meth In Pelvic Area From Mexico

The package of meth found inside of Ibarra. — Unlike marijuana, which is usually seized at Border Patrol stations inside the United States, methamphetamine is typically found at border crossings. US Customs and Border Protecti

After Claudia Ibarra, a 31-year-old resident of Yuma, Arizona, was arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling last week after a one-pound package of methamphetamine was surgically removed from her pelvis by a doctor. According to the US Customs and Border Protection, agents at the Port of San Luis point of entry - through which she was crossing on foot - chose her for a pat-down because she was acting nervous, at which point agents noticed part of a broken condom hanging out of Ibarra's pants. Officers then asked her to remove her pants and underpants, and when Ibarra did, one officer spotted "a piece of plastic protruding from her groin area", according to the Phoenix New Times.

"At that time," the federal complaint reads, "Ibarra admitted to having a package of methamphetamine concealed inside of her body." But the package, which came double-wrapped in condoms, could not be removed from Ibarra's body until she was taken to a Yuma hospital, where it was finally extracted by a doctor.

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Seizures of methamphetamine at the border have soared over the past decade. According to the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIS), between 2005 and 2011, US Customs and Border Protection seized 32,000 pounds of meth at ports of entry. In 2011, 9,347 pounds of it were nabbed by border control authorities, nearly three times the 3,292 pounds seized in 2005. The San Diego port of entry was by far the biggest hub for meth trafficking across the border, with 23,350 pounds in 2011 to the 4,452 pounds seized in Tucson, number two on the list for meth port of entry regions. San Luis is well east of there, nearly right on the border between California and Arizona.

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CIS reports that the Sinaloa cartel controls 80 percent of the U.S. meth trade, which includes producing, transporting and distributing the drug. The cartel's leader, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, has been named Public Enemy No. 1 by Chicago's crime commission, and under his control the cartel operates superlabs within the US which can produce 10 pounds or more of meth a day. But much of it still comes from Mexico - up to 80 percent, according to Dan Simmons, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in San Diego.

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Marijuana remains easily the most common drug smuggled across the US-Mexico border. 17 million pounds of it were seized from 2005 to 2011.