Mexican National Sentenced For Smuggling Drugs Into The U.S.

Thursday, May 29, 2025, 6:30 A.M. ET. 2 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,

BROWNSVILLE, TX.- Last Thursday, a 42-year-old Mexican national learned he would be spending over a decade in federal prison after being sentenced for attempting to smuggle 305 pounds of methamphetamine and 14.74 pounds of heroin into the United States in October 2023.

     According to U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei, on Thursday, May 22, 2025, Ramon Gustavo Alfaro Velez, 42, of Mexico, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr. to 135 months in federal prison for his previously entered guilty plea to federal narcotics violations.

     Velez previously appeared in Federal Court in Brownsville, Texas, on January 14, 2025, and pleaded guilty to Trafficking Controlled Substances, Methamphetamine, and Heroin. 

     In handing down the sentence on Thursday, Judge Rodriguez noted the significant quantity of controlled substances that Velez was being held accountable for and the need to deter future criminal conduct. Upon completion of his federal term of imprisonment, Velez will face immediate deportation proceedings and be removed from the United States.

Border Patrol Agents Find Narcotics Hidden Pickup Truck

     According to the charging documents filed with the District Court, on October 6, 2023, Velez applied for admission into the United States when he drove his Ford F-150 pickup truck into the Veterans International Port of Entry. Customs and Border Patrol agents referred Velez to a secondary inspection. During the secondary inspection, Border Patrol agents uncovered 45 bundles of illicit narcotics hidden within a non-factory compartment beneath the bed liner of the pickup truck.

     Of those, 43 contained a white substance that tested positive for methamphetamine, weighing 139 kilograms. The two remaining bundles contained a brown substance that tested positive for heroin with a total weight of 6.7 kilograms.