Woman arrested for smuggling cocaine

A 23-year-old Mexicali woman was arrested Tuesday at the Andrade port of entry for allegedly attempting to smuggle over 40 pounds of cocaine inside her vehicle.

Rita Ariseidy Niebla Fernandez was taken into custody at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the port of entry by Homeland Security investigations agents and booked into county jail on suspicion of unlawful importation of a controlled substance, county Sheriff’s Office arrest records stated.

According to a federal court complaint, a human and narcotics detector dog positively alerted to Niebla’s vehicle, a 2007 Chevy Equinox, while she applied for entry at the port of entry Tuesday.

As a result, Niebla and her vehicle were referred to secondary inspection, where a HNDD conducted a second sweep of the vehicle and positively alerted to the rear cargo area.

While inspecting the vehicle, a Customs and Border Protection officer observed tool marks on the bolts that secured the rear seats to the vehicle’s floor.

The bolts were removed and the rear seat was taken out of the vehicle. A non-factory compartment with an access panel was then discovered in the floor under the rear seat area.

The access panel was removed which revealed several packages inside the compartment.

A total of fifteen packages, which had a combined total weight of 42.63 pounds and field-tested positive for cocaine, were removed from the vehicle.

— Vincent Osuna, vosuna@ivpress online.com