Two men arrested a day after Thanksgiving for smuggling over 100 pounds of cocaine on horseback through Rio Grande City were indicted on Tuesday.
Enrique Baray-Chavez and Alonso Baray-Ortiz were indicted on four charges: conspiracy to import drugs, knowingly and intentionally importing 174 pounds of cocaine, conspiring to possess and distribute drugs, and for the possession with intent to distribute 174 pounds of cocaine.
Baray-Chavez and Baray-Ortiz were arrested Nov. 26 after investigators noticed suspicious horseback riding in Midway, an area known for drug trafficking activity. The two men said they’re cousins.
That day, agents set up a perimeter and observed the two men ride into the brush, but only the horses reemerged without saddles, bundles and riders. The horses ran east and the riders, Baray-Ortiz and Baray-Chavez, headed south.
Some agents went into the brush and located the seven large bundles of drugs, which later tested positive for cocaine, and the two abandoned saddles. The Baray cousins jumped a fence toward a home 100 yards south of where the drugs were abandoned.
Law enforcement officers created another perimeter around the home and found the two men trying to hide in chicken coops. One of them tried to flee when agents approached but he was ultimately arrested. The other was taken into custody without incident, according to the complaint.
Both defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on the charges on Dec. 23.
