David Mendez Bojorquez’s journey from Arizona to Ohio got cut short this month when a federal agent at the Greyhound bus station in Albuquerque detected what he believed was an anomaly in a suitcase.
As it turned out, the hardness that Jarrell Perry thought shouldn’t be there was a false compartment containing 1.1 kilos of heroin in a plastic-wrapped package.
Bojorquez was arrested and on Monday pleaded not guilty to an indictment charging him with possession with intent to distribute more than a kilo of the drug. He was released to La Pasada Halfway House following a detention hearing earlier this month.
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Perry, who works the bus station as part of drug interdiction efforts by the Drug Enforcement Administration and has been involved in more than 1,200 seizures, said in an affidavit that he became suspicious when, looking at a passenger list, he saw that Bojorquez – whose name he spelled “Boroque” – had paid cash. That and the fact that he was traveling with one suitcase from a source city for illegal narcotics, Glendale, Ariz., to Toledo, Ohio, a destination city for the same drugs.
Perry said he had made “several” arrests of passengers traveling between those cities in his 15 years as an agent.
He was on hand for the 10-minute Albuquerque layover at 2:55 a.m. on Dec. 7 to watch passengers get off and had a look at the luggage.
A blue “Charlie Sport” brand soft-side bag with blue dots caught his eye.
The tag showed the name “Borojquez” and the back was hard to the touch, which he said he thought indicated a false compartment based on his experience “observing thousands of suitcases over (a) 15-year career in interdiction.”
Perry approached Bojorquez, who he said never looked at him, but looked straight ahead, which Perry found “odd.” He got Bojorquez’s permission to search the blue duffel bag with him, which contained nothing suspicious, and then asked to search the checked bag, which Bojorquez said had “nothing illegal.” He did not give permission, saying the bag had medication, but Perry told him he was going to detain the bag to have a drug dog sniff it.
He told Bojorquez he was free to continue his journey without the suitcase and Bojorquez opted to stay with it. The canine handler called in by Perry arrived just after 5 a.m. and Pete, the dog certified in detecting various narcotics, indicated that drugs were present.
A federal magistrate gave permission to search the bag and Bojorquez was arrested.
