That was no baby she was carrying.
A U.S. citizen claiming to be pregnant was found to be transporting a little over half a pound of methamphetamine and a bottle of alprazolam, the generic brand for Xanax, disguised as her baby bump at the Hidalgo port of entry on Tuesday, according to a criminal complaint.
Laura Imelda Soto, born in 1984, is charged with knowingly and intentionally importing a controlled substance.
According to the complaint, Soto made entry into the U.S. through the pedestrian lane where Customs and Border Protection agents noticed a bulge on Soto’s abdomen area. She then claimed to be pregnant.
The complaint says Soto was exhibiting nervous behavior and avoiding eye contact with the officers. This prompted police to search Soto and found the bulge was actually a girdle, according to the complaint.
Inside the girdle was one clear package weighing about 235.4 grams containing a clear crystal-like substance that was field tested by agents, resulting in a positive for the properties and characteristic of methamphetamine, according to the document.
Also inside the girdle, agents found a sealed pill bottle containing 30 pills of alprazolam, the generic name for Xanax, despite Soto not having a prescription for the medication.
In an interview with Homeland Security Investigations, Soto stated she spent about two hours at a taco stand in Reynosa, telling people she was trying to make some money in order to pay for her rent when an unknown individual sold her a package for $600.
According to the complaint, Soto said she didn’t know what the package contained or what she would do with it and wouldn’t admit that she strapped the package to herself despite saying no one helped her.
Soto is set to appear before Magistrate Judge J Scott Hacker for a detention hearing on Monday.
