Two Mexican nationals sentenced for trafficking meth

TYLER – Our news partner KETK reports that two Mexican nationals received lengthy federal prison charges on Monday after trafficking methamphetamine in East Texas.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice Eastern District of Texas, 38-year-old Leopoldo Alonso-Palacios and 37-year-old Juan Luis Salinas-Leon, both Mexican nationals illegally living in Center, were sentenced to 168 months and 262 months, respectively, for drug trafficking violations.

Officials said Alonso-Palacios and Salinas-Leon were stopped while driving on Interstate-20 in Wills Point for speeding, and after the officers to searched the vehicle, the men were found with 937.7 grams of methamphetamine and Salinas-Leon with a firearm.

“The two men then confessed to having additional methamphetamine at their homes in Center,” the department said. “Federal agents searched the residences, where they discovered large plastic tubs containing chicken lard that tested positive for the presence of methamphetamine, along with paraphernalia such as metal pots and mesh screens, materials commonly used in a methamphetamine conversion lab.”

Officials explained that at these labs, methamphetamine is concealed in other substances and then extracted by applying chemical processes and reconstituted into distributable drugs. “In total, agents recovered more than six kilograms of methamphetamine ready for distribution as well as 22 kilograms of liquids in various stages of the conversion process, which also tested positive for the presence of methamphetamine,” the department said.

Immigration records showed that both men were unlawfully in the U.S. and that Salinas-Leon has previously been prosecuted for illegally entering the country.

Alonso-Palacios and Salinas-Leon’s case was part of Operation Take Back America, “a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration.”