Over $4 million in narcotics were confiscated on the Texas/Mexico border, a spokesman with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) informed Breitbart Texas.
One significant seizure occurred on April 25, when officers at the Laredo Port of Entry confiscated more than one ton of marijuana from a cargo vehicle. More specifically, 834 packages containing 2,688 pounds of marijuana were found hidden in a shipment of blackberry and mango pulp. The drugs have an estimated street value of more than $1.3 million.
“This was a significant seizure,” a CPB spokesperson told Breitbart Texas. “When we find seizures in cargo vehicles, they are typically much larger than seizures in passenger vehicles. The smugglers have more room to hide the drugs.”
He said that while smaller drug busts in passenger vehicles are more common, large-scale confiscations like that which occurred on the 25th also happen relatively frequently.
In this case, the suspects’ identities and citizen statuses have not been released.
Jose R. Uribe, CBP Acting Port Director of Laredo said in a statement, “CBP officers continually rely on the tools that they have at their disposal to examine the thousands of commercial conveyances that cross through Laredo’s largest inland port. In this case the use of our document analysis unit and officer skill paid off very well with this ton of marijuana that won’t make it into the U.S.”
On April 28, officers reportedly seized $2.84 million in narcotics during two stops at bridges in Hidalgo.
A CPB press release stated that 10 packages of cocaine, weighing over 24 pounds, were discovered in the passenger vehicle of a 23-year-old male. The suspect is allegedly a U.S. citizen who lives in Reynosa, Mexico. The cocaine’s street value is reportedly $762,000.
Later that day at the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge, officers reportedly found an additional 26.8 pounds of cocaine and 38.2 pounds of methamphetamine in the vehicle of a 37-year-old Mexican national. The drugs had a total value of over $2 million.
“We’ve seen a significant amount of hard narcotics seizures,” the CPB spokesperson told Breitbart Texas. He mentioned that hard narcotics are typically found in passenger vehicles, since the drugs tend to take up less physical space than marijuana.
Border Patrol spokesman Daniel Tirado, of the Rio Grande Sector, said that in his area an average 13,000 pounds of marijuana are confiscated in his area each week. Most of the larger seizures are made from commercial vehicles. But Tirado pointed out, “A lot of legitimate commercial traffic goes through checkpoints. Just because they’re commercial doesn’t mean that they’re transporting narcotics.” He said officers rely heavily on canines to detect the odor of drugs.
Follow Kristin Tate on Twitter @KristinBTate
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