A South Texas truck driver has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for trying to smuggle nearly $1 million worth of cocaine stuffed in a cooler in his rig.
A federal judge in Laredo on Tuesday sentenced 40-year-old Israel Garza of Mission. Garza in December pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute more than 2 pounds of cocaine.
Border Patrol agents last September arrested Garza at a checkpoint near Hebbronville. A drug-sniffing drug alerted agents to an ice cooler in the cab.
Investigator say the cooler appeared to be bulging. Agents confiscated a dozen vacuumed-sealed packages of cocaine worth about $976,000.
Garza acknowledged he was delivering drugs for a Mexican drug cartel.
Copyright AP - Associated Press