Homeland Security Investigations special agents arrested a man Thursday they accuse of smuggling nearly 125 pounds of cocaine into the country through the Pharr port of entry.
Rodrigo Salazar-Rodriguez, a Mexican citizen born in 1977, made a first appearance in McAllen federal court on Monday in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker.
The investigation into Salazar, however, began Oct. 1 after U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained a Mexican truck driver attempting to enter the country with nearly 88 pounds of cocaine and almost three pounds of fentanyl hidden in air tanks, which were affixed underneath the tractor-trailer they were driving, according to a criminal complaint.
HSI special agents interviewed the driver, who is not identified in court records. He explained that he had a mechanical issue while driving the vehicle.
“The truck driver claimed his boss sent him to a mechanic shop in Edinburg, Texas to fix the issue with Tractor 1 but the issue was not fixed,” the complaint read. “The truck driver claimed he was supposed to export meat from the United States into Mexico but did not end up taking any product to Mexico on the trip when he took Tractor 1 to the mechanic shop.”
According to HSI, the driver admitted to never transporting any products into the U.S. or Mexico on behalf of the company.
“The truck driver stated that it didn’t matter to him if he transported goods as long as he got ‘paid,’” the complaint stated. “The truck driver’s cellular phone was seized, and federal prosecution was deferred.”
During this investigation, HSI agents say they found another tractor-trailer the truck driver drove in September and during this trip, they identified Salazar as a person who traveled with the truck driver in August.
Then, on Thursday, CBP detained Salazar as he attempted to enter the U.S. at the Pharr port of entry after finding nearly 125 pounds of cocaine in the truck driven by Salazar.
CBP discovered the cocaine after a drug-sniffing K-9 alerted to the vehicle and after an X-Ray inspection revealed anomalies in the air tanks, according to the complaint.
The cocaine was found in 51 packages.
During an interview, HSI special agents said Salazar claimed he was traveling to the U.S. to bring meat back into Mexico, but he claimed he did not know where he was going to pick up the product.
Like the unidentified truck driver, Salazar also claimed to have mechanical issues.
“Salazar claimed he did not bring products from Mexico or export products from the United States into Mexico on his previous work trip. Salazar claimed that as long as he got ‘paid’ it didn’t matter if he hauled products for the company or went back to Mexico without any products,” the complaint read.
HSI noted in the complaint that this is nearly an identical narrative to the unidentified truck driver agents encountered Oct. 1.
HSI also claims Salazar provided consent to search his phone, which the suspect said belonged to the company and had only been in his possession for about two weeks, saying he used it to make calls and text messages.
“Salazar’s telephone contained no record of phone calls and only one message which was not related to his work,” the complaint said.
He also appears to have some kind of relationship with the unidentified truck driver, who the suspect said was a mechanic who worked in Houston, according to the complaint.
“Salazar stated he and the truck driver were from the same town in Mexico,” the complaint read.
He also claimed to have no knowledge about the cocaine found in the tractor-trailer he was driving.
During his initial appearance, Hacker ordered him temporarily held without bail pending probable cause and detention hearings scheduled for later this week, court records indicate.
