U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 260 pounds of cocaine found late Sunday night in a hidden compartment on a commercial bus

U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 260 pounds of cocaine found late Sunday night in a hidden compartment on a commercial bus, the agency announced in a news release Wednesday.Agents have refused to identify the bus company or the 43-year-old driver, a Harlingen resident, who was attempting to cross the bus into the United States about 11:05 p.m. Sunday. Agents fined the driver $10,000 but did not arrest the person.A drug-detection dog discovered the cocaine, worth an estimated $8.3 million on the street, as agents conducted a secondary inspection of the bus, according to the news release."This is the largest cocaine seizure (CBP has) found hidden in a commercial bus," said Hector A. Mancha, the agency's Hidalgo-Pharr port director, in the news release.A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency is working to unravel the smuggling operation and could not provide more information about the bus or the driver.According to a 16-count federal indictment unsealed in April, five owners and managers of a commercial bus company in Starr County rigged their buses to smuggle drugs from Mexico to northern destinations in the United States and transport cash back south into Mexico.During stops between 2001 and 2006, investigators found drugs stashed under the buses' walkways and behind mirrors in their lavatories, as well as in the vehicles' luggage compartments.Each time the bus company was busted, it closed and reopened under a different name, frustrating authorities trying to track the buses' movement, authorities said at the time.
The case is still in U.S. District Court in Houston. The company operated under names such as Transtar, Neptune Tours, Los Primos, USAMex and Ameri-Mex.

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Transtar, Neptune Tours, Los Primos, USA-Mex and Ameri-Mex identified the five bus companies accused of taking part in the drug smuggling

Authorities identified the five bus companies accused of taking part in the drug smuggling as Transtar, Neptune Tours, Los Primos, USA-Mex and Ameri-Mex.
According to the indictment, the companies have offices in Monterrey, Mexico, Rio Grande City, Roma, San Antonio and Houston.A telephone number listed for USA-Mex was not working. Representatives with Los Primos did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. Attempts to reach the other bus companies were unsuccessful as no telephone numbers could immediately be found for their businesses.Investigators said the drugs were smuggled into the United States from Monterrey, Mexico, and transported north through the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, up through Houston and various cities north, including Dallas, Allentown, Pa., and Joliet, Ill.U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle said the drugs were stored on the buses inside some "not completely undetectable but some very sophisticated compartments," often below where luggage was stowed.He said the smuggling organization, which began operating in 2001, charged anywhere from $500 per kilogram of cocaine just to get it across the border to as much as $7,000 per kilogram of cocaine to take it as far north as New York City."The buses were transporting people as well but they were also transporting narcotics," DeGabrielle said. "That's what made it so successful for a while, their ability to do this relatively undeterred."Yankovich said at first it was hard to figure out who was smuggling the drugs because anybody, from passengers to drivers to mechanics that worked on the buses, could have been blamed.
"They were secure in the way they did business," he said. "Once we figured out how they were working, we were able to systematically dismantle their plan."Authorities have arrested nine of the indicted individuals.The owners and managers of the bus companies have been identified by authorities as: Abel Trevino Jr., 43, of Houston; Oscar Jaime Garcia Prado, 42, from Brookshire; Miguel Montemayor, 39, of Roma; Victor Hinojosa, 41, of Houston; and Eduardo Trevino, 40, of Linares, Mexico.Abel Trevino, Montemayor and Hinojosa were arrested in Houston on Wednesday.
Those hired as bus drivers and loaders have been identified as: Leticia Enedina Fournier, 58; Guadalupe Karr Cortez, 47, an illegal immigrant; Jesse Trevino, 48; Alejandro Carmargo-Guerra, 59; Victor Rocha, 39, from Dickinson; Enrique Alvaro Saldana, 53, of Roma.Jesse Trevino, Rocha, Carmargo-Guerra and Cortez were arrested Wednesday.Those accused of paying the bus companies to transport the drugs were identified as: Guadalupe Castaneda, 46, of Roma; Eduardo Cirilo, 42, of Pharr; Eduardo Salinas, 29, of Mission; Jose Armando Muniz, 33, of Weslaco; Rafael Armando Ramirez, 32, an illegal immigrant from the Houston area; and Luis Laros, 36; and Robert Salazar Rivera, 48, both of Monterrey, Mexico.Salinas and Cirilo were arrested on Wednesday.The defendants are each charged as part of a 16-count indictment with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana and each faces up to life in prison if convicted. Most of the defendants are also charged with conspiracy to launder drug proceeds. The remaining counts relate to other drug charges.Officials said none of those arrested have made their initial court appearances. It was not immediately known if any individuals in custody had attorneys.

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