A backpack, a Coke bottle and fake cocaine: Inside a Border Patrol agent's smuggling arrest

A report on corruption among border agents says the discipline system is broken, according to the LA Times. Photo / AP

Noe Lopez needed a favour. It was early December, and the United States Border Patrol agent working on the San Diego-Tijuana border asked a co-worker whether they could switch patrol areas for the day.

She would take whatever area Lopez was assigned, and he would spend the day in a desolate, isolated area known as "S-Bridge".

Court documents don't detail what Lopez said to persuade her to switch, but he likely kept the real reason a secret. He was expecting a package.

On December 6, Lopez got in his Border Patrol vehicle, headed out to the designated location and picked up a black backpack weighing about 3kg, according to a criminal complaint filed in US District Court in the Southern District of California.

It travelled from Lopez's work vehicle to the back of his own SUV to a strip mall in Chula Vista, California, court documents say. There, the FBI says, Lopez met with a man who paid the Border Patrol agent to become a drug smuggler. The price: US$500 ($717) for 45g, or US$3000 - and the promise of future work.

Lopez handed over the backpack, and the men made plans for another drop the next day - more drugs and a bigger payday for Lopez. Lopez pulled out his phone and showed the contact where 7kg of cocaine should be dropped the next day, documents say. The place was nicknamed "Goat Canyon" by Border Patrol agents.

Lopez said he would mark the drop area with a Coke bottle.

Days later he was charged with attempted distribution of methamphetamine, attempted distribution of cocaine and receiving a bribe by a public official.

Lopez's contact in the smuggling operation was working as a confidential informant for the FBI.

In all, court documents say, Lopez accepted US$10,000 to smuggle what he thought were drugs, which turned out to be fake meth and cocaine.

A woman who identified herself as his ex-wife told Philadelphia NBC-affiliate WCAU that Lopez might have had money problems. Still, the allegations surprised her.

"Everyone has money issues. We live in San Diego, but, I mean, nothing to this extreme for someone to risk their career," she said.

Chief Patrol Agent Richard A Barlow said the Border Patrol was co-operating with investigating agencies.

"Border Patrol agents are held to the highest standards, and we remain committed to performing our duties for the American people in the most professional way," Barlow said.

Lopez became a Border Patrol agent a decade ago, as a massive hiring spree led to a spike in the number of agents charged with corruption, according to the Associated Press.

An independent task force examining the Border Patrol found that the agency's system for disciplining corrupt agents and officers does little to deter criminal wrongdoing, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The "discipline system is broken", the report concluded.

"Such corrupt officials can assist the [drug] cartels by providing intelligence and facilitating the movement of large amounts of contraband across our borders and into our country," the Homeland Security Advisory Council's final report on Border Patrol integrity concluded. "Indeed, corrupt CBP [California Border Patrol] law enforcement personnel pose a national security threat."

Lopez is the third federal agent arrested on corruption charges since September, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

In September, Customs and Border Protection Officer Jose Luis Cota, who ran a lane at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, was arrested after authorities say he continually let a woman smuggle unauthorised immigrants through his lane in exchange for cash bribes and sex, according to the newspaper.

And on November 30, Tyrone Duren, a former Homeland Security Investigations agent, was arrested on suspicion of stealing drug money from traffickers and laundering the cash.