A 62-year-old Mexican man has been found guilty in a Texas court of trying to smuggle methamphetamine worth over $1.2 million into the United States. The drugs were concealed in an unusual hideaway—48 jars of lard. Eleazar Vilchiz Alonso pleaded guilty to the federal charges, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani for the Southern District of Texas.
Caught red-handed at the Lincoln-Juarez Bridge in Laredo, Alonso was onboard a commercial bus on Jan. 10 when a routine agricultural inspection led to the discovery of his fatty contraband. Attempting to enter the United States, authorities found the lard jars that tested positive for meth, weighing a staggering 63.85 kilograms. Upon further inspection, packed within several suitcases, law enforcement recovered the jars each full of the crystal clear drug.
The substance inside the jars was later confirmed by a laboratory analysis to be 100% crystal meth—also known by the street name "ice"—as reported on the U.S. Attorney's official website. Alonso owned up to his intention to deliver the narcotics to a Houston address, facing harsh justice for his high-fat, high-stakes crime.
Alonso, who has been detained since his capture, is awaiting sentencing set for July 9 by U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo. If the gavel falls heavily, he could be looking at a lifetime behind bars and a maximum fine of $10 million for each count of his weighty offenses. The successful interception of the meth-laden lard was a collaborative sting by Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations, and was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Terence Andrew Check Jr.
