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A Weslaco man is under arrest after he literally tried to walk more than a pound of heroin into the country that was hidden in the soles of his shoes while having an outstanding warrant for his arrest.
Homeland Security Investigations special agents arrested Mario Alberto Martinez, who was born in 1991, after he attempted to cross into the U.S. at 3:16 p.m. last Friday at the B&M International Bridge in Brownsville.
The criminal complaint said that U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers referred him for a secondary inspection after he was found to be an exact match for a warrant.
That document doesn’t say what the warrant was for, but said officers patted Martinez down and then scanned his shoes with an X-ray.
“The scan of the shoes revealed anomalies in the center of both shoes, specifically in the soles,” the complaint stated. “Further inspection revealed two tightly compressed tape wrapped packages within the soles.”
CBP extracted approximately 1.6 pounds of heroin from the shoes, according to the complaint, which said Martinez freely admitted to the smuggling attempt.
Martinez made a first appearance in Brownsville federal court on Monday in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Betancourt, who ordered him held without bond.
