A man who believed he was smuggling a little more than 6 pounds of cocaine is instead facing charges for trying to bring approximately 130 pounds of methamphetamine into the United States.
Homeland Security Investigations special agents arrested Abiel Geronimo Fernandez, a U.S. citizen born in 2002, on Sunday at the Rio Grande City port of entry after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers reported finding the drugs in 24 bricks hidden within the tires and wheels of a 2000 gold Chevy Silverado pickup truck, according to a criminal complaint.
CBP discovered the bricks after an X-ray revealed anomalies in the tires and after a drug-sniffing dog also alerted to the tires.
Fernandez, who agreed to speak with special agents, said a man in Mexico offered him a job as a driver to cross narcotics into the country using vehicles with hidden compartments, according to the complaint.
On Saturday, Fernandez said he called the man, who is named Jose Angel Flores, and asked whether he still needed a driver to cross drugs because Fernandez said he needed money, the complaint read.
“Fernandez stated he met with Jose Angel Flores in Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas, Mexico to discuss the narcotics smuggling,” the complaint stated.
He said Flores told him he would be smuggling a little more than 6 pounds of cocaine, according to investigators.
The man expected to be paid $3,000 after delivering the vehicle to an unknown person at an unknown location, according to the complaint.
Fernandez was scheduled to make a first appearance in McAllen federal court on Monday.
