U.S. Customs and Border Protection found nearly 9,000 pills last Thursday hidden inside a vehicle at the Progreso port of entry last Thursday.
The driver, Luis Cardenas, a U.S. citizen born in 1964, was arrested for attempting to import Xanax, Oxycodone and Methadone into the country.
CBP officers who searched his vehicle found bundles of pill bottles wrapped in brown tape beneath the dashboard of the black 2015 Dodge Caravan driven by Cardenas, as well as bottles concealed inside the driver and passenger seats, according to a criminal complaint.
The packages contained a total of 7,800 Xanax pills, 990 oxycodone pills and nine methadone pills, according to CBP.
Homeland Security Investigations agents interviewed Cardenas, who said he would be paid $1,000 for transporting the pills, according to the complaint.
“Cardenas stated he has been smuggling pills from Mexico into the U.S. for three to five years and is regularly paid between $1,000 to $1,500 U.S. Dollars per delivery,” the complaint states.
He also admitted to selling individual bottles of Xanax for $25 each and also sending Xanax pills by mail for paying customers, according to the complaint.
Cardenas was scheduled to make a first appearance in federal court on Tuesday morning, records show.
