A Rio Grande City woman is in the Brooks County Jail. A state trooper stopped her on US Highway 281 in Encino Tuesday. He found 75 pounds of cocaine inside her SUV.
Maria Briceno, 38, agreed to let the trooper search her car.
He found 30 bundles of cocaine packed into a secret compartment built right into the floor of the SUV. The compartment was not a factory part. The drugs had a street value of about $780,000. DPS says the cocaine was headed to Pasadena, Texas.
Briceno was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance. She is now in the Brooks County Jail.
The trooper works for Texas DPS. He was part of Operation Lone Star. That program puts extra troopers on the border. Their job is to catch drug runners.
Texas DPS posted the bust to Facebook. "Outstanding work by our Troopers," the post said.
US 281 cuts through Brooks County. It goes from the Rio Grande Valley up toward San Antonio. Troopers and Border Patrol agents watch this road every day.
Brooks County is about an hour north of Rio Grande City. It is flat, open ranch land. Drug runners use these back roads to move loads north.
DPS did not release bond details. The case is still open.
