Customs and Border Protection officers arrested a man who was caught receiving bundles of marijuana that were being tossed over a fence and behind a dumpster at the Progreso port of entry Tuesday.
Officers observed a suspicious man tossing the bundles over the border fence onto port property where Jermahl Jeremiah Medrana, born in 2002, was receiving them.
According to a criminal complaint, CBP officers observed Medrano behind a dumpster near the border fence within the U.S. as another unidentified man threw the bundles over at around 11:35 a.m.
Medrano fled to a vehicle in the parking lot as officers approached him but was stopped.
The complaint states that a 17-year-old male was accompanying Medrano and a bundle was sitting in plain view in the rear seat.
Two additional bundles were found on the ground in the area of the border fence, the complaint said.
“The bundles were discovered to contain a green leafy substance which field tested positive for the properties and characteristics of marijuana,” the complaint said.
The bundles weighed nearly 64 pounds.
A Homeland Security Investigations special agent assisted in the investigation and interviewed Medrano who stated he was hired by an unknown person to transport the marijuana to Mercedes.
He added that he was supposed to pick up five bundles.
Medrano is set to appear before Magistrate Judge Juan F. Alanis for a detention hearing Monday.
