LAREDO, TEXAS (BNO NEWS) – A Mexican national with legal residence in Florida was sentenced to a federal prison for smuggling methamphetamine, U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno said Friday.

Virgilio Alvilez-Cruz, 34, of Wauchula, Florida, a Mexican citizen and legal permanent resident, was arrested on July 30, 2009, after 1.97 kilograms of methamphetamine was discovered in his suitcase by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers.

The encounter between CBP officers and Alvilez-Cruz occurred at the Lincoln-Juarez Bridge in Laredo, Texas during a routine inspection of a passenger bus. An inspection officer noticed an anomaly in Alvilez-Cruz’s suitcase, which was discovered to hold methamphetamine under a false bottom.

Laboratory testing confirmed the methamphetamine 97.4 % pure, which has a street-value of approximately $158,000.

Alvilez-Cruz was sentenced to 210 months in prison without parole to be followed by a five-year-term of supervised release.

He was later interviewed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as Alvilez-Cruz admitted bringing the drugs without knowledge of what they actually were. He told the agents that he had been offered $6,000 by a stranger he met at a bar in Guerrero, Mexico, to smuggle drugs into the U.S. He was to take a suitcase to Atlanta, Georgia, which was given to him by a second stranger.

Alvilez pleaded guilty to the drug trafficking offense in October 2009. He has been in federal custody without bond since his arrest and will remain in custody to serve his sentence.