A Matamoros woman arrested by federal authorities on a methamphetamine smuggling charge said she was being paid to smuggle the illegal narcotics and had done so on previous occasions, federal court documents reflect.
According to a federal criminal complaint, U.S. Border Patrol agents found over 268 pounds of liquid methamphetamine inside a truck driven by Amariani Romero Romero.
Romero Romero, born in 2001, appeared Wednesday before U.S. Magistrate Ignacio Torteya III, who ordered she be held without bond.
Her next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 13.
According to a federal criminal complaint, Romero Romero was attempting to drive through the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint at Sarita, when her Ford F-150 pickup truck was referred to a secondary inspection area after a Border Patrol canine alerted of possible narcotics in the vehicle.
While in the secondary inspection area, the agents found a liquid substance which began to crystallize in two compartments within the gas tank, the federal criminal complaint stated.
The substance tested positive for methamphetamine and weighed about 121.96 kilograms or 268.87 pounds.
Homeland Security Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration agents were sent to the location, and during a post-Miranda interview of Romero Romero, she “admitted she was employed by a drug trafficking organization to transport narcotics, stated that she was going to be compensated for transporting the narcotics and had transported narcotics for financial gain on other occasions previously,” the federal criminal complaint states.
