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Thread 8253

Thread ID: 8253 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2003-07-19

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Rick_Dean [OP]

2003-07-19 08:23 | User Profile

:thd:

Unfortunately for him it wasn't the fizzy kind in a can. He'll be playing "hide-the-salami" for a few years to come.

Man charged with possession of more than 300 pounds of cocaine

By David J. Lee

PRESIDIO — A Mexican national was charged Tuesday in federal court in Presidio with possession with intent to distribute after more than $10 million worth of cocaine was confiscated last week. Raul Madrid was remanded to the custody of U.S. marshals. If convicted, Madrid faces 10 years to life in prison. Madrid would be deported to Mexico following any prison sentence. Madrid was arrested Friday afternoon at a Bureau of Customs and Border Protection checkpoint four miles south of Marfa on Highway 67. “It’s a significant bust,” said Bill Brooks, CBP public affairs officer. “I can’t say how long it’s been since we got one that valuable.” Border patrol officers were tipped to look for a 2000 Volvo tractor pulling a flatbed trailer that might be carrying drugs. The truck came across the Marfa checkpoint a little after 1 p.m. Friday.
It was being towed by a wrecker, Brooks said. After searching the truck, agents found 320 pounds of cocaine in a false tank within the gas tank.
Border patrol agents estimate the value of the cocaine at $10.3 million. “That is a lot of drugs kept from the streets of this area as well as the rest of the United States,” said Simon Garza Jr., chief patrol agent. Brooks echoed Garza. “Even by our standards, that is a lot of cocaine,” he said. The cocaine and truck were turned over to seizure custodians in El Paso, said William Upchurch, resident agent in charge of the Bureau of Immigration and Citizenship Services in Presidio. “They’ll process it and destroy it,” he said.