Warrant Issued for Driver of Truck Carrying Cocaine

A U.S. magistrate in San Diego issued a warrant Tuesday for the arrest of Ruben Sanchez Tapia, the driver of the tanker truck seized along the U.S.-Mexico border last week with a record haul of almost four tons of cocaine.

The seizure--totaling 7,702 pounds--was the largest cocaine seizure along a U.S. land border and among the biggest hauls of the drug ever confiscated.

U.S. Customs Service authorities at the border allowed Sanchez to go free last Wednesday after holding him for eight hours because they hadn’t yet found the cocaine and did not have probable cause to detain him any longer, officials said. Customs officials have said they are investigating to determine if an error was made in permiting Sanchez to leave.

U.S. and Mexican authorities have been seeking the missing driver since the huge haul of cocaine was finally uncovered in the vehicle’s cylindrical tank last Thursday afternoon--some 32 hours after the truck arrived at the Otay Mesa commercial port of entry and a full 24 hours after the driver had been allowed to leave the customs facility. The search was slowed because authorities had to bleed excess gas from the tank, which normally carries propane, officials said.

Federal authorities, in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego, said that Sanchez is wanted for illegally importing the cocaine with intent to distribute it. Magistrate Irma E. Gonzalez issued a warrant for the driver’s arrest.

Sanchez, 38, a Mexican citizen who was residing in Tijuana, was a veteran driver who was known to customs officials at Otay Mesa, said Steve Trent, U.S. Customs Service resident agent in charge in San Ysidro. Sanchez was a long-time employee of Hidro Gas Juarez, the Mexican firm that operated the truck and sells large quantities of U.S.-produced propane south of the border. The company’s trucks regularly pass through customs in Otay Mesa.

The tanker trucked pulled into the border commercial inspection station on Oct. 3 at 6:25 a.m. A narcotics-sniffing dog named Snag became alert at the rear of the vehicle, initially raising suspicions about the load.