Mexican Diplo Staffer Doubles As Drug Mule, Gets Busted

This seems a little bit unseemly. You might begin to think our neighbor to the south has a little problem with narcotics trafficking!

On the morning of April 25, Jose Moreno Serrano pulled his Dodge SUV into a border checkpoint in Arizona, ostensibly on his way to work at the Mexican Consulate in nearby Yuma.

Using his consulate VISA and SENTRI pass — essentially a “fast pass” for frequent border crossers — Moreno quickly moved through security and into the United States at 7:42 a.m.

Less than an hour later, Moreno was arrested by federal officials for transporting 100 pounds of cocaine, hidden in a secret compartment in his SUV.

With a street value of more than $2.7 million, the bust was a significant haul for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement division of the Department of Homeland Security. The arrest of Moreno — a low-level, consulate employee — highlights how deeply entrenched the drug cartels have become on both sides of the border.

Moreno, whose job at the consulate involved working with Mexican nationals involved in the U.S. criminal justice system, would later tell investigators “he was being paid $4,000 for the delivery,” which was his second that week.

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.