Luis Miguel Garduño, who, as recently as late 2025, served as a Director of Public Services in the Mexican City of Matamoros (across the Rio Grande from Brownsville), was arrested on Easter Sunday (April 5, 2026), while attempting to smuggle almost 11 kilos of cocaine through a South Texas Border Patrol Checkpoint.
After a Border Patrol dog alerted agents at the Javier Vega, Jr. Checkpoint on US Highway 77 in Sarita, Texas, a search of the SUV he was driving revealed a hidden compartment beneath the third row of seats.
Inside, agents found ten bundles containing 10.92 kilograms of cocaine.
According to a criminal complaint, Garduño told Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Agents that “he was directed to do the trip because of a debt that he owes (and when) asked if he knew what was in the vehicle … he advised that he believes it was drugs, but did not know what type.”
Garduño is facing federal charges of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
The case is raising eyebrows because of an arrest involving another Mexican official from the same area last year. On May 2, 2025, US Customs & Border Protection (CBP) officers stopped a Mexican couple attempting to drive across the Brownsville-Matamoros International Bridge into Mexico for a random search.
The Mexico City newspaper "El Universal" identified the woman involved in the case as an employee of the Attorney General's Office of the Mexican State of Tamaulipas.
The CBP Officers found bundles of US dollars (totaling $148,610) hidden inside the couple’s car. The driver was found to be carrying another $5,485 in cash. Officers found the woman was carrying even more money: $30,000 - again, all cash.
(It is a federal offense not to declare currency totaling $10,000 or more to a CBP officer upon entry or exit from the U.S. or to conceal it with intent to evade reporting requirements. Failure to declare may result in seizure of the currency and/or arrest. An individual may petition for the return of currency seized by CBP officers, but the petitioner must prove that the source and intended use of the currency were legitimate.)
In all, US Federal Agents seized $184,095.
Meanwhile, the ex-Matamoros city official arrested for smuggling cocaine earlier this month remains jailed in Corpus Christi awaiting trial.
How large a problem is cartel corruption of government officials along the Mexican border?
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Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
