Customs and Border Protection officers made a near-record seizure of marijuana at the Nogales commercial facility on Wednesday when they seized nearly 12,400 pounds of the drugs.
The drugs were worth about $6.2 million, according to the CBP.
The seizure was the third-largest marijuana seizure at an Arizona port of entry, the CBP said. The two largest seizures were 14,121 pounds in January and 20,375 pounds in November 2013.
Officers at the Mariposa Commercial Facility discovered the marijuana co-mingled among a shipment of pump components in a tractor-trailer rig driven by a 39-year-old Nogales, Sonora, man.
The 534 bales of marijuana were found hidden inside cardboard boxes in the rig. A drug dog alerted to the marijuana as the rig crossed into the United States.
The driver, Silvestre Tomas Camez-Mendoza, was arrested, the CBP said.
This is the second large seizure of marijuana at the Nogales crossing. On Tuesday officers found near 2,500 pounds of the drugs in a tractor-trailer rig carrying a shipment of bell peppers. The driver in that case was also arrested.
The marijuana in the two seizures had an overall street value of $7.4 million, the CBP said.
