Arizona state police arrested a U.S. Border Patrol agent following a traffic stop where they found four suitcases with 50 bricks of cocaine. The agent said was traveling to Chicago where he was going to receive $50,000 for the trip.

Last week, Juan Pimentel went before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce McDonald who formally charged him with possession with intent to distribute cocaine and ordered he be held without bond pending trial.

Troopers with the Arizona Department of Public Safety arrested Pimentel last Thursday following a traffic stop for a minor violation on the interstate highway known as I-10, court records obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed.

During the traffic stop, Pimentel said he was driving to Flagstaff Arizona and that he did not know who had rented the vehicle he was driving. When the trooper asked if he could search the vehicle, Pimentel identified as an agent, showed the trooper his badge and told him that he had a gun in his bag.

The trooper searched the vehicle and found four suitcases which were filled with small kilogram sized bundles, the trooper pullet out a knife and made a v-cut into one of the bricks and found it to be a white powder consistent with cocaine.

After his arrest, Pimentel told authorities that he was driving to Chicago and that he expected to receive $50,000 for the trip. While Arizona DPS made the arrest, the FBI ended up taking the case and filling the charges in federal court.

The area just south of Arizona is controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel which as reported by Breitbart Texas, has been identified by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) as the Mexican drug cartel with the most power in Chicago. According to DEA reports, the Sinaloa Cartel has been able to flood Chicago’s streets with a steady stream of heroin and crystal meth primarily as well as cocaine and marijuana.

Pimentel’s arrest comes less than two weeks after the Cameron County Sheriff’s Office arrested another border patrol agent in Texas. As Breitbart Texas reported, Joel Luna has been charged with capital murder and other drug trafficking charges in connection with a drug operation linked to Mexico’s Gulf Cartel. Luna has been linked to the kidnapping and beheading of an illegal alien whose body was found by fishermen in South Padre Island, Texas during Spring Break.

Luna is believed to have allowed drug shipments to pass through his inspection area at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Hebronville Texas. At the time of his arrest, authorities seized multiple cash bundles, drugs and a jeweled handgun.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.

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