U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Laredo Sector seized an 18-wheeler loaded with nearly $4.6 million worth of Marijuana on Thursday night at a checkpoint located over 70 miles from the Mexican border.
Border Patrol agents assigned to the checkpoint near Cotulla, Texas, stopped a Kenworth tractor towing a cargo tank. The agents were in the process of checking the immigration status of the truck’s driver when a K-9 agent alerted to the presence of either drugs or human cargo in the tank, information provided to Breitbart Texas by U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealed.
The truck was referred to a secondary inspection station for a search of the trailer. An x-ray scan of the trailer, conducted using the Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System (VACIS), revealed anomalies that required further inspection. An inspection of the tank revealed 216 bundles of what agents would later test positive for marijuana.
The bundles weighed in at 5,734.3 pounds. Border Patrol officials estimated the street value of the load to be $4,578,440 in U.S. dollars.
Chief Patrol Agent Mario Martinez praised his agent’s work, saying, “I commend our Border Patrol agents for their continued dedication, vigilance and hard work they perform daily to protect our borders.”
The truck, cargo tank, and the 216 bundles of marijuana were seized and turned over to agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The driver was also turned over to DEA agents for processing for possible federal prosecution.
It was not reported whether the truck was able to cross the border from Mexico with the marijuana on-board or if the drug cargo was loaded somewhere north of the Texas/Mexico border. The Cotulla Border Patrol Checkpoint is located on Interstate 35 about 70 miles north of that border. I-35 is the major corridor from Laredo to San Antonio. It then leads to Austin and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
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