Amado, Arizona - Nogales Station Border Patrol agents arrested two women in separate weekend attempts to smuggle narcotics through the Interstate 19 Immigration Checkpoint near Amado.
While checking the immigration status of passengers in commercial shuttle vans on Friday and Saturday, agents detected passengers with packages of drugs in different locations on their bodies.
On Friday afternoon, agents discovered a 33-year-old Tucson woman concealing more than 2 pounds of heroin worth more than $32,000. On Saturday, an 18-year-old Nogales, Arizona woman was encountered with approximately 1.5 pounds of meth worth an estimated $2,000.
Both women were arrested and charged with narcotics smuggling.
Federal law allows agents to charge individuals by complaint, a method that allows the filing of charges for criminal activity without inferring guilt. An individual is presumed innocent unless and until competent evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.