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A 30-year-old man pleaded guilty to smuggling hundreds of thousands of dollars in narcotics at the Hidalgo port of entry, according to a release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Federal customs officers stationed at the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge on Nov. 3, 2020, stopped Gerardo Jimenez, a U.S. citizen around 3:53 p.m. after databases showed an arrest warrant for Jimenez and a K-9 unit alerted toward the front of his vehicle.
Agents found two batteries with black silicone inside the caps. After removing the silicone and other materials authorities discovered a red battery cable that connected to a smaller battery inside the original, according to the criminal complaint.
Four brown wrapped bricks and two clear wrapped packages were found inside the batteries. According to the complaint, the brown bricks contained around 4.22 kilograms of heroin while the clear packages contained 2.04 kilograms of methamphetamine.
The drugs are estimated to be valued at $654,000.
Jimenez told authorities that he had purchased his vehicle, a white Ford F-250, at a flea market in Alamo a couple of weeks prior to traveling into Mexico in November. He also said that no maintenance had been performed on the vehicle nor had the batteries been changed.
However, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer had previously encountered Jimenez on two different occasions prior to November.
On Oct. 16, 2020, the officer inspected the Ford F-250 and stated he only saw one battery with yellow writing on the label while on Oct. 21, 2020, during an inspection of the same vehicle he saw two batteries.
According to the complaint, one of the batteries was a “VOLT AR” battery made in Mexico. Both instances did not contain narcotics.
Authorities stated the batteries found in November had the brandings “Alliance” and “Super start” and the battery cell cover was different from previous inspections. The battery changes are inconsistent with Jimenez’s statement.
Jimenez is scheduled for sentencing by U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez on Aug. 19. He is currently facing 10 years in federal prison with a $10 million maximum fine.
He will remain in custody pending the hearing.
