(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A U.S. Border Patrol agent has been charged with conspiring with drug traffickers, allowing some 60 kilograms of cocaine to cross the border in about three months.
According to the Justice Department’s criminal complaint, the Border Patrol agent, Jorge J. Jiminez, accepted bribes from narcotics smugglers in exchange for helping them bypass inspection at the I-19 checkpoint in Arizona.
“On the day of a transportation attempt, Jiminez would, while on duty, and dressed in his U.S. Border Patrol uniform, provide real time information as to his lane assignment and the status of the K-9s to the coordinators through electronic communication,” the Nov. 5 criminal complaint stated.
Interesting tidbit in a criminal complaint against a Border Patrol agent accused of conspiring with drug traffickers to import 60kgs of coke in 3 months.
According to the complaint, undercover agents drove unmarked cars through his checkpoint to see how he acted. pic.twitter.com/1HJI0OFLmT— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) November 20, 2024
“One of the coordinators would then relay that to the narcotic trafficker who would then send a vehicle through the identified lane of the checkpoint during the window of time provided by Jiminez … Jiminez would then pass those vehicles through his assigned lane without inspection.”
The government’s investigation into Jiminez’s corruption entailed undercover agents passing unmarked cars through his checkpoint, to see how he acted.
“To gauge whether Jiminez acted differently towards the loaded vehicles versus unloaded vehicles, agents in unmarked cars passed through Jiminez’s assigned lane on the days in question. In each instance he asked the standard Border Patrol check-point questions. He did not ask those same questions to the loaded vehicles,” the criminal complaint said.
Jiminez’s alleged conspiracy ended in October, when he was no longer assigned at the border checkpoint. But the DOJ said that between June and September, he allowed a whopping 60 kilograms of coke to enter the U.S.
Jiminez received $400 per kilogram of coke he helped cross the border, putting the total bribe amount at nearly $25,000.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
