Laura Zuniga, the 23-year-old Miss Sinaloa from the drug-plagued Mexican state, was arrested Monday night when the SUV she was in was stopped at a military checkpoint in Guadalajara, police said Tuesday. Zuniga was riding in one of two trucks, where soldiers found two AR-15 assault rifles, .38 specials, 9mm handguns, nine magazines, 633 cartridges and $53,300 in U.S. currency, Jalisco state police director Francisco Alegrandro Solorio told the Assocated Press.

The Houston Chronicle reports Zuniga told authorities that she and the group of men she was with were heading for Colombia and Bolivia on "a shopping trip." Most cocaine smuggled through Mexico to U.S. consumers comes from Bolivia or Colombia, reports the Chronicle. Arrested along with Zuniga was her suspected boyfriend — who has been identified by federal police as a top member of the so-called Juarez Cartel. Another man arrested was Orlando Garcia Urquiza, whom Mexican federal police identified Tuesday as a top operator for the Carrillo Fuentes smuggling organization based in Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso. Since President Felipe Calderón entered office in December 2006, major raids on drug cartels has swept through the area.

Zuniga won the Miss Sinaloa title in July — warming the judges’ hearts with a speech about women’s reforms. She was to compete in the Miss International 2009 pageant next year in Asia. She was also named "Queen of Hispanic America 2008" in a contest in Bolivia.

Pageant organizers say they are waiting for results of the investigation before making any decision about whether to strip Zuniga of her crown.