Man allegedly tries to smuggle ammo to Mexico in tortilla bag
CBP officer stops man strolling south at port of entry continually ‘adjusting his pants and knocking down shirt’
EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A person is going through federal expenses for allegedly making an attempt to smuggle ammunition to Mexico in his pants and a bag of Mission Tortillas.
A U.S. Customs and Border Safety officer watching the southbound pedestrian lanes of the San Luis, Arizona, port of entry noticed a person strolling in the direction of Mexico who all of a sudden stopped and “seemed to be adjusting his pants,” in accordance with paperwork filed Monday in federal court docket.
As the person approached the CBP officer, he patted the entrance of his pants and pulled his shirt so far as it will go. Information present the officer instructed him to cease and requested if he had something to declare earlier than leaving the USA; the person later recognized as Bryant Mitchell Pilgrim responded, “I don’t have something unlawful on me.”
Information present Pilgrim then rotated and started strolling away from the border; the CBP officer known as for backup and instructed the person to cease and place his arms in opposition to a chain-link fence.
Border officers took Pilgrim into custody and searched him on the port of entry. The April 19 search yielded greater than 100 rounds of 9mm ammunition in his clothes and a plastic tortilla bag, in accordance with a felony grievance filed in U.S. District Courtroom for the District of Arizona.
Homeland Safety Investigation brokers later tried to query Pilgrim and search his cellphone, however they seen the unit had been locked and “distant wiped,” erasing all knowledge.
A number of hours in a while April 19, CBP officers documented the entry from Mexico of a person recognized as Pilgrim’s brother. They instructed him of his brother’s arrest and requested if he knew in regards to the ammo, information present.
The brother denied any information or involvement and was allowed to return to re-enter the U.S. Pilgrim himself declined to speak to investigators. He’s being held on expenses of smuggling items from the USA, a federal offense punishable with as much as 10 years in jail.