A North Carolina woman has been apprehended after five kilograms of meth was reportedly retrieved from the walls of her luggage while trying to enter the United States. Meanwhile, a McAllen man has been nabbed for trafficking crystal meth via FedEx packages.
Deanne Burkhart Bautista, 51, a resident of Hendersonville, North Carolina, has been accused of attempting to enter the United States at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge in Laredo carrying 5.5 kilograms of meth in her luggage.
An x-ray examination apparently yielded anomalies in her suitcase and, on further inspection, the authorities ultimately found a total of 5.5 kilograms of meth with an estimated street value of US$27,000 embedded in her luggage, the United States Department of Justice reported.
After investigators questioned her, Bautista admitted that she was aware of the drugs in her bag and revealed that she was expecting to be paid in cash or drugs upon delivering the package to Atlanta, Georgia.
Bautista pleaded guilty on Aug. 4. She has been ordered to serve a 120-month prison sentence, followed by five years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo on Tuesday, Aug. 31.
Meanwhile, Jose Edmundo Corona, 20, a McAllen resident, has been slapped with 168 months behind bars followed by five years of supervised release for his role in a meth conspiracy.
Law enforcement reportedly intercepted multiple FedEx packages in identical boxes with similar packaging styles destined for Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta at their shipping center in Pharr between September and October in 2020.
When the authorities searched the packages spurred by their suspicions, a total of 45 kilograms of crystal meth with an estimated street value of US$300,000 was recovered from the parcels, KRGV-TV reported.
CCTV surveillance footage from a handful of FedEx premises shows Corona placing the packages for delivery at various mailing centers throughout the Rio Grande Valley. He was also seen paying for the parcels' shipping costs. When fingerprint analysis was carried out, it was found that Corona not only mailed the packages but also prepared the meth that was being trafficked within the packages.
In a similar but unrelated incident, a Dallas man named Oscar Santiago Garcia Sanchez, 32, reportedly entered the Presidio Port of Entry driving a vehicle with a trailer filled with ceramic art pieces in February earlier this year. However, after Customs and Border Protection officers inspected the vehicle, they discovered a crystal substance inside the art pieces.
Some 3.4 kilograms of methamphetamine would later be retrieved from the ceramic art pieces, Latin Times reported.
Sanchez was arrested on Feb 2, 2021, and has remained in federal custody since. Sanchez faces up to life in prison for the drug conviction. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 23, 2021.
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