Leap Year drug smuggling attempt ends with arrest in Brownsville
Posted: 03.01.2012 at 4:13 PM
11.92 pounds of cocaine seized in Leap Year drug smuggling attempt / Customs and Border Protection Photo
Photo

A Matamoros man remains behind bars in the Rio Grande Valley after he allegedly tried to smuggle $381,000 worth of cocaine on Leap Year.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers arrested 42-year-old Jose Luis Castillo-Lopez on a federal drug smuggling charge on Wednesday.

Court records show that Castillo-Lopez drove up from Mexico at Brownsville’s B&M International Bridge in a white 1999 Dodge Intrepid.

Customs officers allegedly found five packages with 11.92 pounds of cocaine worth $381,000 dollars hidden in the floorboard of his car.

Castillo-Lopez appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Felix Recio in Brownsville on Thursday morning.

Investigators told Action 4 News that Castillo-Lopez is a Mexican national who lives in Matamoros.

Judge Recio denied bond for Castillo-Lopez until a Monday afternoon hearing.

Court records show that Castillo-Lopez was the only suspect charged for drug smuggling at Cameron County’s four international bridges on Wednesday, which was Leap Year.