Border Patrol Agents Stop Attempted Child Smuggling, Seize $1 Million in Drugs

U.S. Border Patrol Agents at the Eagle Pass port of entry stopped the attempted smuggling of a child and seized $1 million in hard narcotics.

Federal officers made two major drug smuggling busts and stopped the human smuggling of the minor who was traveling with forged documents.

CBP officers working the Eagle Pass, Texas, port of entry from Piedras Negras, Mexico, stopped a 2008 Dodge Nitro that was entering Texas from across the border. The Nitro was being driven by a female U.S. citizen from Houston, information obtained by Breitbart Texas from CBP officials revealed.

The woman travelling with a minor child from Mexico presented a U.S. birth certificate for the child. After further questioning, CBP officers learned that the child was actually a Mexican national with no legal documentation to enter the U.S.

The 37-year-old Houstonian was arrested and placed in federal custody.

In a separate incident later on Saturday, officers observed a Ford-F-150 crossing the Eagle Pass International Bridge. A K-9 alerted to the presence of drugs. CBP officers carried out a non-intrusive inspection using imaging systems and found 30 packages hidden in the truck. The packages were tested and found to be filled with crystal methamphetamine. The shipment was weighed at 70.6 pounds and has an estimated value of $1,411,825.84, officials stated.

The driver of the truck was a U.S. citizen from San Antonio, Texas. He was arrested and turned over to Homeland Security Investigations for possible prosecution on drug trafficking charges.

“This interception of dangerous drugs and human smuggling of a child exemplifies the teamwork of our officers working at our port,” Eagle Pass Port of Entry Port Director John Brandt said in the written statement. “Our officers employed a combination of observational skills and high tech tools to uncover this load and preventing it from going any further and halt these types of human smuggling attempts, all in a day’s work.”

Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2.