Mexican smugglers have new ruse

EL PASO, Texas, July 7 (UPI) -- Mexican drug smugglers are hiding drugs in the vehicles of people who regularly cross the U.S.-Mexican border, an FBI affidavit alleges.

Smugglers find their targets by posting lookouts at the port of entry to identify vehicles using the express lane daily, the El Paso (Texas) Times reported Thursday.

After identifying a vehicle, smugglers covertly obtain the car's vehicle identification number and use it to have spare keys made. Smugglers then secretly stash a load of drugs in the vehicle's trunk and the next morning drivers would drive the car across the border, not knowing they were hauling drugs, an FBI affidavit said.

The plan doesn't always work and the unsuspecting drivers can find themselves in jail, the report said.

Ana Isela Martinez Amaya, 35, is a private school teacher from the La Fe Preparatory School. She is in a Juarez prison, awaiting trial on drug smuggling charges after being stopped with a load of marijuana in the trunk of her car.

Her husband said they would use the FBI information in an effort to gain her freedom.

Two Mexican men, Jesus Chavez and Carlos Gomez, face a detention hearing Thursday on charges they smuggled drugs into the United States by hiding them in the trunks of unsuspecting commuters.