Tucson Region

2 Nogales busts net 16 pounds of heroin

Authorities seized nearly 16 pounds of heroin in two incidents at the Nogales Port of Entry Tuesday. The bigger incident began around 6:20 p.m. when a Ford Freestar van tried to cross into Arizona with 15 pounds of heroin hidden inside. The driver was arrested after a drug-sniffing dog found the heroin in a compartment behind the windshield, according to a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The driver, whose name was not released, is a 42-year-old Sinaloan. Five hours before that incident, a 43-year-old Sinaloan tried to smuggle 1 pound of heroin into the United States in his shoes, the release also stated. That man, whose name also was not released, was captured at the pedestrian gate on Morley Avenue. The man had hollowed-out areas in his shoes in which he'd hidden the drug. The heroin seized in the two incidents has a Tucson street value of about $960,000. The incidents marked the first heroin seizures of the federal fiscal year, which began Oct. 1. Last fiscal year, port inspectors in Arizona seized nearly 75 pounds of heroin.