HOUSTON, Texas — Over the weekend in Texas’ Laredo Sector, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized about $3 million in hard narcotics. $1.2 million of the drugs, weighing 38 pounds, were seized from a vehicle being driven by a Mexican national.
The Mexican man, 35-year-old from the state Tamaulipas, was carrying methamphetamine, according to a federal press release. The drugs were being stored in 36 separate packages.
A Laredo-based CBP spokesman told Breitbart Texas that the area has seen a spike in drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine.
The spokesman told Breitbart Texas, “We have seen increases in hard narcotics. This includes cocaine, meth, and heroin.”
He pointed out that typically, “narcotics activity fluctuates from season to season.”
Another largest narcotics bust over the weekend occurred on September 13, when CBP officers found 22 packages full of cocaine hidden in a pickup truck during a routine exam. The drugs weighed about 54 pounds. The pickup truck was being driven by a 28-year-old U.S. citizen from Austin.
According to CBP, the drugs found during this one bust have an estimated street value of $1.7 million.
In addition to seizing large amounts of hard narcotics, Laredo officers also uncovered 21 immigration violations over the weekend.
Breitbart Texas learned that such violations included individuals presenting false documents to officers.
“We saw a fair amount of activity this weekend,” the CBP Laredo spokesman told Breitbart Texas. “This shows that officers must be vigilant and take a [close] look at the documents that people are presenting. Our officers rely on training.”
Laredo CBP Port Director Joseph Misenhelter said in a statement, “Our officers kept busy this weekend with an unrelenting flurry of hard narcotics seizures and discovery of numerous immigration law violations. This brisk amount of enforcement activity exemplifies the border security aspect of our mission and demonstrates our commitment to keep our community safe.”
The increase in hard narcotic seizures in South Texas comes amid the border crisis, which included thousands of Central Americans entering the U.S. illegally.
While areas like Texas’ Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector are heavily patrolled by law enforcement, the Laredo Sector–which lies right next to the RGV Sector–remains porous. Many have speculated that drug smugglers and criminals are taking advantage of this while law enforcement officers focus their efforts on assisting with the crisis in the RGV area.
In July Breitbart Texas took a group of grassroots leaders on a trip to highlight holes in border security in the Laredo Sector. Breitbart Texas Managing Director Brandon Darby said, “The federal government, the State of Texas, and the media have presented a picture that the increase in security in the Rio Grande Valley sector is somehow representative of an increase in security along all of Texas’ border with Mexico. The Laredo sector is the next sector over and it is largely wide open. We wanted grassroots leaders to witness for themselves what the reality is and we wanted them to feel what the often solo agents feel out there along the river.”
Follow Kristin Tate @KristinBTate.
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