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