A Mexican man entering the United States in a tractor trailer was apprehended Wednesday when customs officers discovered more than 900 pounds of liquid meth in fake compartments, according to a criminal complaint.
Pedro Sergio Luna-Soto is charged with illegal importation of a controlled substance after trying to cross through the Rio Grande City port of entry.
The complaint states Luna was referred to a secondary inspection where K-9 units alerted U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers to an odor of narcotics.
“[Officers] observed scratch marks and tampered bolts on both passenger and driver side fuel tanks,” the complaint said. “[Officers] also observed a leak under the rear metal strap of the passenger side fuel tank which had formed into a crystalized substance.”
According to the complaint, the crystalized substance tested positive for the characteristics of methamphetamine.
Upon further inspection, officers discovered false after-market compartments in both passenger and driver side fuel tanks filled with a liquid substance that also tested positive for the properties and characteristics of methamphetamine.
The total weight of the suspected liquid methamphetamine was about 915 pounds.
During an interview with authorities, Luna made conflicting statements and had erased all conversations and call logs from his cellphone saying that his wife caught him cheating and gave him another phone, the complaint said.
Luna also stated he refueled about an hour and a half into his trip and couldn’t explain how he was to pick up the cargo he was sent for, where exactly he was going to pick it up and had no point of contact with the destination he was traveling to.
Luna is set to appear before Magistrate Judge Nadia S Medrano for a detention hearing on Sept. 13, court documents show.
