A Mexican immigration official has been arrested after crossing the border with 233 pounds of cocaine hidden in his car, the U.S. Border Patrol in Tucson announced Friday.
Gilberto Perez-Ibarra, 43, was seized near Casa Grande, Ariz., late Thursday night, driving westbound on Interstate 10, the Border Patrol said in a statement.Agents discovered the cocaine concealed in Perez's 1992 Dodge Ramcharger after he identified himself as a Mexican immigration official based in Nogales, according to Ron Sanders, chief of the Tucson Sector of the Border Patrol.
Sanders said the vehicle and the cocaine were turned over to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Perez is in DEA custody, he said, adding that Perez was arrested on suspicion of violating his immigration status.
He gave no further details of the case.
In Washington on Friday, House Speaker Newt Gingrich said he will introduce a bill requiring execution of drug smugglers crossing the border from Mexico.
Under the bill, he said, if a drug trafficker crosses into the United States with a commercial quantity of narcotics, "you will have signed your own death warrant."