Agents Seize 36 Pounds of Marijuana at Calexico, Arrest Suspect

U.S. Customs Service agents seized 36 pounds of marijuana Monday at the Calexico Port of Entry, the fourth seizure in four days of either marijuana or heroin at a California border checkpoint, customs officials said.

Juan Hinojosa Gonzalez, 22, of Indio was arrested just after 5 a.m. at the Calexico checkpoint after inspectors discovered the marijuana, wrapped in 18 packages, in a 1973 Ford Maverick, customs officials said.

Hinojosa faces five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if he is convicted of smuggling marijuana, they said.

On Sunday at the San Ysidro checkpoint, customs inspectors found 115 pounds of marijuana in a car. Officials provided no other details of that seizure.

At Calexico on Saturday, inspectors seized just over 5 pounds of heroin, which they said they found wrapped in three packages hidden in a woman’s undergarments. Arrested in connection with that seizure were Maria Teresa Longa Ruiz, 39, a beautician from Santa Ana, and her companion, Gabriela Asseo de Aspiri of Mexicali.

If convicted of smuggling heroin, each could be sentenced to 10 years to life in prison and fined of up to $4 million, officials said.

Last Friday at Calexico, inspectors found 71 pounds of marijuana, wrapped in 54 packages, hidden behind the back seat and in the rear side panels of a car. Arrested was Juan Manuel Gurrola Quintero, 36, of Holtville, Calif., officials said.

If convicted of smuggling, Gurrola could be sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, they said.

The heroin seizure brought the total amount of heroin uncovered at Calexico in fiscal 1990 to almost 10 pounds, up from less than 2 pounds at the same time last year, said Allan J. Rappoport, the Customs Service’s San Diego district director.

The marijuana seizures at Calexico brought the total discovered there this fiscal year to 3,343 pounds, he said. At the end of February, 1989, the total seized was 1,145 pounds, he said.