A Santa Maria woman is behind bars after she allegedly tried to smuggle $476,000 dollars worth of cocaine in her car battery.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents arrested Aleyda Loya-Yanez on federal drug charges on Monday.

The 42-year-old woman drove up from Mexico at the Los Indios International Bridge.

Customs officers sent her 2006 Dodge Status to secondary inspection.

Authorities allegedly found six packages with 14.9 pounds of cocaine hidden inside her car battery.

Loya-Yanez appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Felix Recio in Brownsville on Tuesday morning.

Investigators told Action 4 News that Loya-Yanez is a Mexican national who lives on the American side of the border in Santa Maria.

Judge Recio denied bond for Loya-Yanez until a Friday morning hearing.