A 51-year-old woman from Kentucky is behind bars in the Rio Grande Valley after she allegedly tried to smuggle cocaine into the United States.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers arrested Linda Kay Allen over the weekend.
Allen drove up from Mexico at the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge in a Dodge Caliber with Kentucky license plates at 4:06 a.m. Saturday.
Court records show Allen told customs officers that she drove to her daughter's wedding in Zacatecas was coming back home.
A secondary inspection allegedly revealed 11 packages with 29.7 pounds of cocaine worth $1 million dollars hidden behind her dashboard.
Allen allegedly told U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers that it wasn't the first time she smuggled drugs across the border.
The 51-year-old Kentucky woman told investigators she had taken laundered money to Mexico and brought back drugs on previous trips.
Allen told investigtators that a Lexington man she only knew as 'Whistle' would pay her $1,700 dollars or more per trip.
The Kentucky woman appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Ormsby on Monday morning.
Court record show that Allen is an American citizen.
Judge Ormsby denied her bond until a Thursday morning hearing.
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