Agents Seize Cocaine in Calexico

A nervous-looking driver entering the United States at the border checkpoint here was found to be carrying 328 pounds of cocaine in a secret compartment in his vehicle, U.S. Customs officials said Monday.

Ancelmo Madueno Rodriguez, 25, was arrested on suspicion of smuggling cocaine and, if convicted, faces 10 years to life imprisonment, as well as a fine of up to $4 million, according to a Customs Service statement. Bail information was not available.

Madueno, a resident alien living in National City, appeared nervous as a customs’ inspector asked him routine questions shortly before noon Sunday at the checkpoint, 120 miles east of San Diego, the statement said. The inspector directed Madueno into a secondary inspection area, where a dog sniffed out the drugs in the secret compartment.

The cocaine, in 158 plastic-wrapped bundles, had an estimated street value of $11.5 million. The seizure brings the amount of cocaine found in the San Diego region during the fiscal year, which began last Oct. 1, to 9,794 pounds. The region encompasses the five border checkpoints at the southern edge of California.

“I’m positive that (the 9,794 pounds) is a record (for the San Diego region),” Bobbie Cassidy, customs spokeswoman said. “We haven’t even approached it in the past.”

Cassidy declined to elaborate on the type of vehicle Madueno drove or the specially built compartment in which the drug was hidden.