CBP seizes $340,000 in cocaine

A man from Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers Friday afternoon at Los Indios International Bridge after they discovered 11 pounds of cocaine in his vehicle, federal officials said.

Andres Castro Fonseca, 29, was charged with possession with intent to distribute of 4.8 kilograms of cocaine, court documents show.

The arrest took place when Castro drove up to an inspection booth at the bridge in a 1998 Ford Expedition and was referred to a secondary inspection area, said an agency release.

During the inspection, officers walked Kuvar, a narcotics detecting canine, near the vehicle. Kuvar alerted officers to the presence of narcotics in the vehicle, CBP said.

Officers used an imaging system to find anomalies in the front part of the vehicle near the wiper blade mechanism. Officers searching in that area of the vehicle found nine packages with a combined weight of approximately 11 pounds of cocaine, the release said.

The drug seizure had a street value of $340,000, CBP said.