San Ysidro

A brother and sister from El Salvador have been indicted by a federal grand jury for attempting to smuggle 45 pounds of cocaine into the United States last week through the San Ysidro border crossing, the U.S. attorney’s office announced Thursday.

Indicted on separate counts of importing and possessing cocaine were Jorge Melhado-Mejia, 47, and his sister, Maria Zaldivar-Melhado, 35. Both are resident aliens from El Salvador who have been living in the San Francisco area, according to a U.S. attorney’s office statement.

The two were arrested March 12 at the border crossing after they aroused the suspicions of U.S. Customs inspectors by reacting nervously to an initial inspection of their late-model car.

At a secondary inspection point, a government dog trained to smell cocaine barked at the car. A search by inspectors revealed that the car contained 45 pounds of cocaine that the U.S. attorney’s office estimates has a wholesale value of $800,000 and a street value of about $8 million.

The pair are being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center without bail pending their trial.

Maximum punishment for each offense is life imprisonment and a fine of $4 million. The minimum sentence for each offense is 10 years in custody, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.