Baja California Police Officer Charged With Smuggling Drugs In Car

SAN DIEGO, CA — A Baja California state police officer has been charged by San Diego federal prosecutors with allegedly trying to bring drugs across the border.

Victor Alfonso Moreno, who Mexican officials said has been an officer for seven years, was arrested Monday at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.

According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court, Moreno's car was inspected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, who discovered 35 packages weighing nearly 100 pounds hidden in the car's driver's seat, passenger seat and rear seats.

The substance in the packages tested positive for cocaine, according to the complaint.

Moreno told officers that he did not know drugs were in his car, but stated that a few days earlier, he had left his car at a mechanic's shop in Tijuana.

He allegedly said that through his work as a police officer in Tijuana, "he had previously investigated the same mechanic for having possible ties to cartels."

Moreno is among several people in local law enforcement and criminal justice fields who have been charged with allegedly trying to bring drugs into the United States or permitting drug trafficking.

Ana Sofia Lopez Osuna, a Baja California Attorney General's Office employee, was arrested in June after prosecutors say she met up with a man in National City who was caught with cocaine.

Leonard Darnell George, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer, was also charged this year with taking bribes to allow vehicles carrying drugs across the border, while U.S. Border Patrol agent Hector Hernandez was charged with taking bribes to distribute methamphetamine, as well as allow migrants to enter the United States.

A San Diego-based U.S. Marine, Roberto Salazar II, was also sentenced earlier this year to 12 years in prison for coordinating the importation of fentanyl into the United States.

— City News Service