'Immigration Facilitator' Charged With Smuggling Almost a Dozen Pounds Of Fentanyl To New Mexico

A woman who described herself as an "immigration facilitator" has been charged with smuggling almost a dozen pounds of fentanyl through a border crossing in New Mexico, according to a new report.

The woman in question is Daniela Paola Valles, who was caught with 11 pounds of fentanyl last November at the Santa Teresa Port of Entry while attempting to enter the U.S. with her vehicle, Border Report detailed.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers conducted an X-ray scan and found anomalies behind the front seats of the car. After Valles said she had nothing to declare, a drug-sniffing dog alerted of a suspicious sent. Officers then drilled on the floor of the car and found nine bundles with a substance that tested positive for fentanyl.

Questioned by officers, Valles said she "just does what she is told to do." She added that she has crossed vehicles with drugs four or five times for an unnamed Mexican cartel in exchange for hundreds of dollars. She detailed that she was told to cross the border and stay at hotels in Albuquerque until someone picked the drugs and drive her back to Mexico.

Similar such incidents routinely take place in the country. In November, a Mexican man was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after being caught with tens of thousands of fentanyl pills hidden inside a children's toy.

Infobae noted that Drug Enforcement Agency agents were inspecting Guillermo "N"'s car when a drug-sniffing dog alerted officers of the presence of narcotics in the vehicle.

Agents then opened the car, finding several boxes and a toy school bus filled with more than 50,000 fentanyl pills, weighing roughly 5 kilograms.

Authorities also noted that the man was in the U.S. unlawfully and he had been deported five times in the past.

A month earlier, agents working at the Nogales port of entry in Arizona reported that they seized almost a million fentanyl pills over the course of a month.

Border Report detailed that the seizures took place over a 30-day period ending on September 24. Half of them were found in a single incident on the week ending September 2, the outlet added, quoting Nogales U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Director Laura E. Hermosillo.

The largest incident was on September 19 after officials found dozens of bundles containing almost 178,000 pills inside a vehicle. It also had 30 pounds of methamphetamine. A week earlier, a man was stopped while carrying what he described as luggage. After inspection officials found almost 165,000 pills.