A Progreso man is behind bars after customs officers found an Eastern European AK-47 hidden under his clothes.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) arrested 21-year-old Manuel Homero Garces on a federal weapons charge Friday.
Court records show that Garces was headed into Mexico at the Progreso International Bridge where he was stopped for an outbound inspection.
Authorities allegedly found a Serbian AK-47 hidden underneath his outer clothing.
Garces allegedly told investigators that he needed to make a car payment and was supposed to get paid $400 dollars to deliver the assault rifle in Nuevo Progreso, Tamaulipas.
The Progreso man told customs officers that he had delivered another two AK-47 assault rifles during two other previous trips where he got paid $200 dollars each time.
Garces appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dorina Ramos in McAllen on Monday morning.
Investigators reported that the 21-year-old man is an American citizen who lived in Progreso.
Judge Ramos denied bond for Garces until a Thursday morning hearing
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