see also: in March 2007 News Releases:   SBInet Completes Test of First Mobile Sensor Tower   Nogales Border Patrol Seizes 6 Tons of Marijuana from Garbage Truck   El Paso CBP Officers Make Largest Drug Bust In 2 Years   CBP Seizes $709,291 in Undeclared Currency at Laredo Port of Entry   Border Patrol Seizes $13 Million in Cocaine Near Hidalgo, Texas   El Paso CBP Offers Tips For Quick, Safe Easter Holiday Border Crossings   Border Patrol Assists Man Bitten by Snake ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers on the web:   United States Postal Service

contacts for this news release

Mayaguez, P.R. – Customs and Border Protection Officers at the Port of Mayaguez arrested a 21-year-old Dominican Republic man, charging him with attempting to bring narcotics into the U.S. internally. The citizen of the Dominican Republic was arrested February 28 after arriving onboard the Caribbean Express Ferry from the Dominican Republic.

While attempting to clear CBP, officers interviewed the passenger and his bags were inspected. The officers were soon able to determine that the passenger was an internal carrier, a person that swallows narcotics in form of pellets made from the fingers of rubber gloves usually containing cocaine or heroin. An internal smuggler will swallow 60 or more pellets that vary slightly in weight and size.

As lucrative as the payoff may be for the carriers, they are putting their own lives at great risk. Death from leakages of the pellets during transport is common.

In this case the smuggler expelled pellets that contained a white powdery substance that was tested and reacted positive for heroin. A total of 100 pellets were seized with a weight of 1.2 kilos with a street value of approximately $76,000-$84,000. The passenger was arrested and custody transferred for further processing.

During fiscal year 2006 Customs and Border Protection officers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands intercepted more than 277 pounds of heroin and 10,879 pounds of cocaine. CBP’s main mission is to protect the U.S. and its territories from terrorist and their weapons. CBP also enforces hundreds of other laws, including narcotics prohibitions.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.