March 24, 2006 -- KFOX first reported on how Hudspeth County sheriff's deputies stopped a Mexican customs officer about 12-15 miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border. The deputies also allegedly found a GPS tracking system and evidence that he had crossed two days earlier. On Friday, the Mexican consulate released a statement about the incident.

They say Eduardo Mendoza works at the Mexican Port of Entry across from Fort Hancock. The consulate says Mendoza was using U.S. roads to get to work and had crossed that day, and not two days earlier. They also say that Mendoza had gotten lost, which is why he was so far away from the border.

"For two days he gets lost, has a bed roll, being sitting out there in the bushes sort of speak... you do the figuring?" said Sheriff Arvin West, from Huspeth County.

"There was officers patrolling that area under Operation Linebacker, and he could have stopped any one of them and say 'I am lost.' He didn't ever; he failed to do that," West said.

West also says he believes Mendoza knew what he was doing because he had a GPS tracking system, which he says looked as if he was tracking some back roads.

"There is no way to confirm this, that he is out there probably helping the drug cartel or the smuggling cartel. He was definitely up to no good," West told KFOX.

Mendoza was released back to Mexico.