Port of Entry officials make their second drug bust in a week

By Leslie Wood
Staff Writer

GALLUP — Port of Entry officials confiscated about 641 pounds of illegal drugs this morning during a routine commodity stop, a department spokesman said.

Lt. Robert Baca said officers are awaiting the arrival of narcotics agents to continue the search and more information concerning the seizure will be available this afternoon.

This marks the second discovery of illegal drugs this week for the department inside semi-trucks traveling through the area.

Early On Monday, 44-year-old Jesus Conterars, of Nogales, Ariz., was arrested in connection with more than 4,500 pounds of marijuana that was discovered among the contents of the tractor-trailer he was driving.

The drugs were seized from a tractor-trailer rig that was stopped at a state Motor Transportation Division port on Interstate 40 west of Gallup.

The marijuana was divided into five pallets and each contained about 1,000 pounds of the illegal drug, Baca said.

The estimated street value of the confiscation is $6 million. Conterars was traveling from Arizona to Detroit, Mich, Baca said. The Mexican citizen was taken into custody by Federal Drug Enforcement Agency officers, he said.