Multiple Border Cocaine Busts At Border Port Of Entry

Customs and Border Protection officers working at the El Paso port of entry made two drug seizures Wednesday totaling 61.4 pounds of cocaine.

“CBP officers remain vigilant in their duties, and their hard work stopped a significant amount of cocaine from making it to the streets of our nation,” said CBP acting El Paso Port Director Barry Miller. “Every day CBP officers are preventing the entry of dangerous drugs, people and other threats from reaching our neighborhoods.”

The first of the two drug busts was made at 1:30 p.m. at the Bridge of the Americas. Officers were checking vehicles crossing the border when a drug-sniffing dog named Lady alerted officers to a 2005 Toyota Rav4 waiting to cross.

After an extensive search of the vehicle, officers found a compartment in the rear cargo area where they said the found 10 bundles that contained 25.1 pounds of cocaine.

The driver of the car, 42-year-old Carlos Flores Olmos of Juarez, Mexico, was arrested and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents and booked into the El Paso County Jail on charges of drug smuggling.

He is being held without bond.

The second drug seizure was made approximately two hours later at the Paso Del Norte crossing after officers selected a 1997 Nissan Altima for additional scrutiny after a drug-sniffing dog named Cesar alerted officers to the car.

Officers said they found a compartment under the rear seat in the Altima and found 14 cocaine bundles containing 36.3 pounds of cocaine.

The driver of the Altima, 28-year-old Karla Ivonne Vargas Aguilar of Juarez, Mexico, was arrested and also turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents and booked into the El Paso County Jail.

She is also being held without bond.