Back-to-back highway stops in Mobile County netted five pounds of heroin and 14 people taken into custody Tuesday in what authorities describe as an attempted human smuggling operation.
Drifting Vehicle Leads to Drug Find
The U.S. Border Patrol said a Mobile County Sheriff’s Office special operations deputy first spotted a vehicle drifting across lane lines on Interstate 10. With help from Border Patrol agents, the deputy stopped the vehicle and noticed the smell of alcohol, prompting a search.
Hidden behind a compartment near the dashboard, deputies found six bricks wrapped in black electrical tape. A test of one of the objects came back positive for heroin. The driver and the drugs were turned over to the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office.
Overloaded Van Stopped on I-65
Later that day, a Saraland police officer conducting a routine stop on Interstate 65 found a second vehicle packed far beyond its normal capacity with passengers carrying no U.S. identification. Border Patrol agents responded and determined all 13 passengers had entered the country illegally.
The passengers and the driver — who claimed to work for a transportation service — were taken into Border Patrol custody. Homeland Security Investigations is now handling the case.
“We can never overstate the importance of relationships amongst local agencies,” Border Patrol New Orleans Sector Chief Greg Bovino said, crediting the partnerships for keeping dangerous drugs and criminals out of local communities.