Opinion ID: 168214
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The arrival at the N ew M exico port of entry

Text: At about 2:00 p.m. on July 10, 2004, the truck pulled into the New M exico port of entry near the A rizona border. M r. Chehadeh testified that he told M r. Norwood to stay in the bunk in the back of the cab because he knew that the inspectors would get suspicious if M r. Chehadeh had a passenger who was not recorded into his logbook. Oscar Destea, an inspector with the New M exico Department of Public Safety, M otor Transportation Division, looked at M r. Chehadeh’s logbook and -4- noticed some minor violations. Inspector Destea asked him to move into the inspection yard so that he could conduct an inspection of the truck. Inspector Destea asked M r. Chehadeh to step down from the truck and accompany him and another inspector during the inspection. At some point, the inspectors noticed that M r. Norwood was in the cab of the truck, and they asked M r. Chehadeh to get him out of the cab. One of the inspectors asked whether M r. Norwood w as a co-driver, and M r. Chehadeh told him that M r. Norwood w as just a passenger. The inspector then asked M r. Chehadeh to open his trailer. M r. Chehadeh believed that the inspector became suspicious when he saw that the onions were not stacked in an orderly fashion on their pallets. Both inspectors climbed on top of the onions and saw that there was something in the trailer other than onions, which they believed was some sort of contraband. Inspector Destea then called the state police, and the other inspector asked M r. Chehadeh to drive the truck into the inspection bay.