A former official from Matamoros is currently in federal custody after being arrested by U.S. law enforcement for his alleged role in a cocaine smuggling scheme in Texas. Following the arrest, the city of Matamoros has sought to distance itself from the situation, asserting that he had ceased to be a city employee several months prior to his arrest.
The events leading to the arrest unfolded during the Easter holiday when Luis Miguel Garduno was driving a newer GMC Acadia from North Brownsville to Corpus Christi, Texas. A criminal complaint details that Garduno was directed to a secondary inspection at the Javier Vega U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Kinney County, situated around 130 miles north of the border. At this checkpoint, a drug detection dog alerted the agents to potential narcotics in the vehicle.
Upon the dog’s alert, authorities thoroughly searched the vehicle and discovered a trapdoor in the floor. Inside this hidden compartment, they found 10 bundles of cocaine weighing a total of 10.92 kilograms, or roughly 22 pounds. In an interview with officials from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Garduno claimed he was told to drive a loaded vehicle as a means to settle a debt.
The court documents do not specify who had given him these instructions or any further context about the debt. Nonetheless, drug trafficking in Brownsville and Matamoros is reportedly controlled by the Gulf Cartel.
The arrest initially went unnoticed, but last week, the city of Matamoros released a statement to clarify that Garduno, who had worked as the public services director, had not been employed there for several months before his arrest. This incident adds Garduno to a lengthy list of Matamoros officials with connections to the Gulf Cartel.
