SAN DIEGO : Bribery Suspect Pleads Innocent

A Mexican citizen pleaded innocent Thursday to federal charges of bribing a customs inspector and smuggling a huge quantity of cocaine into the United States.

Ramon Reyes Guzman, a 44-year-old Mexicali man who formerly worked as a Mexican customs official, was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury in San Diego.

Prosecutors said that Reyes paid a U.S. Customs inspector $100,000 in exchange for the safe passage of two cocaine-laden vehicles through the Calexico border crossing April 30.

However, the inspector was only posing as a crocked official, and law enforcement officers were able to seize 1,475 pounds of cocaine.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Gonzalo P. Curiel said “a reasonable estimate of the value of the cocaine” on the street would be $50 million. If convicted of the five charges against him, Reyes could be sentenced to life in prison.