Mexican cartel operatives forced a city councilwoman from the border town of Reynosa to smuggle drugs into the U.S. by threatening to murder her family if she didn’t comply, her lawyer said, according to Border Report.
Reynosa Councilwoman Denisse Ahumada-Martinez is being held in the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s jail in Edinburg, Texas, law enforcement officials said on Monday, according to Border Report. Ahumada-Martinez was arrested on June 10 at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Falfurrias, Texas, for possession of 92 pounds of cocaine which were concealed in the seats and door frames of her SUV, according to the criminal complaint filed against her. (RELATED: Police Catch ‘Pregnant’ Woman Allegedly Concealing 1,500 Grams Of Cocaine Inside Rubber Stomach)
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Samuel Reyes, the lawyer representing Ahumada-Martinez, said the councilwoman was forced to drive the vehicle into the U.S. because operatives in Mexico threatened harm to her and her family if she did not cooperate.
“She had been threatened by individuals in Mexico that had threatened her some time back. And that the only reason she was transporting this vehicle was under threat of death to her and her daughters,” Reyes reportedly told Border Report. “She had no idea what was in the vehicle. It was a threat: ‘Take the vehicle,’ you know, ‘or we will kill you and your kids.'”
The federal case against Ahumada-Martinez was dismissed by a U.S. magistrate judge, but it is now being prosecuted at the state level, according to Border Report. If convicted, Ahumada-Martinez could face up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized roughly 16,000 pounds of cocaine at the southern border between October 2022 and April, according to agency statistics.
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