LAREDO, Texas — Two Mexican nationals working as commercial truck drivers have been sentenced to five years in federal prison for smuggling nearly 45 kilograms of high-purity methamphetamine across the southern border in separate but nearly identical operations. Ernesto Siller-Valdez, 40, of Saltillo-Coahuila, Mexico, and Ricardo Isguerra Chavez, 43, of Michoacan, Mexico, both pleaded guilty Dec. 4, 2017, to conspiring to import methamphetamine into the United States.
Visiting U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison handed down concurrent 60-month sentences to both men, who are not U.S. citizens and will face deportation upon completion of their terms. The cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Bukiewicz and investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Protection.
Siller-Valdez was caught Oct. 5, 2017, at the World Trade Bridge port of entry driving a 2007 Freightliner. After being referred to secondary inspection, agents discovered 22.78 kilograms of 97% pure methamphetamine hidden inside two wooden chock blocks and two fire extinguishers in the cab’s sleeper area. He admitted to meeting a man at a bar in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, who offered him 30,000 Mexican pesos to transport contraband to Laredo. He claimed he didn’t know the exact nature of the cargo but knew it was drugs.
Chavez’s operation followed a similar blueprint. In early September 2017, four men approached him in Mexico, offering 20,000 Mexican pesos to deliver an unknown item into the U.S. He claimed the men threatened to harm his family if he refused. On Sept. 19, 2017, unknown associates delivered two speaker boxes, which he installed in his Tropex tractor. The next day, at the Columbia Solidarity Bridge, CBP officers found 12 packages containing nearly 21.956 kilograms of methamphetamine.
Both men used commercial transport lanes to exploit inspection routines, attempting to slip narcotics past customs under the guise of routine cross-border freight operations. The seizures underscore the persistent use of tractor-trailers as a preferred vector for drug trafficking along the Texas-Mexico corridor.
Authorities continue to monitor smuggling tactics involving coercion, financial incentives, and concealment within legitimate cargo. With purity levels nearing 97%, the methamphetamine seized in these cases posed a significant danger to U.S. communities. Both investigations highlight the transnational nature of drug cartels leveraging vulnerable individuals to move deadly cargo across the border.
Related Federal Cases
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: Official Source ↗
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