Two Houston men are behind bars in the Rio Grande Valley after they allegedly tried to smuggle cocaine and heroin inside religious statues.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers arrested 20-year-old Abraham Ismael Robles and 18-year-old Juan Manuel Juarez on federal drug charges on Saturday.
Court records released Monday show that Robles crossed the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in a taxi around 7 a.m. Saturday.
Robles had two wooden crates filled with religious statues.
He told customs officers that he was going to sell them at a flea market in Houston but a K-9 officer found 15.12 pounds of brown heroin inside them.
Robles told investigators that he and Juarez came down from Houston together on an El Expreso bus.
Juarez came across the same bridge in a passenger van around 1 p.m. Saturday where he also had two wooden crates filled with religious statues.
He also said the statues were going to be sold a flea market in Houston but customs officers found about 14.95 pounds of cocaine inside them.
Robles told investigators he was supposed to get paid $1,500 dollars while Juarez was supposed to get paid $2,000 dollars.
Both men appeared before U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Peter Ormsby in McAllen on Monday morning.
Court records show that both men are United States citizens.
Judge Ormsby denied bond for both of them until a Thursday morning hearing.
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