Driver, 37 pounds of coke seized at U.S.-Mexico border

A Mexican citizen was arrested on suspicion of trying to sneak in nearly 37 pounds of cocaine at a border checkpoint in Calexico, federal authorities said Thursday.

The cocaine, worth an estimated $440,000 on the street, was sealed in 15 packages hidden in the quarter panels of the red 1999 Jeep Cherokee, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The 29-year-old Calexico resident driving the jeep was stopped Tuesday morning after a customs officer "noticed the driver was nervous," the department said in a statement.

Officers used drug-sniffing dogs and X-ray equipment to find the coke.

The man was turned over to federal investigators and was being held at the Imperial County Jail, authorities said. His name was not released.?

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Photo: Confiscated cocaine. Credit: U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/t1m7dx_PVZ0/37-pounds-of-coke-seized-at-us-mexico-border.html

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