U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Texas ports of entry stopped more than $5.3 million in methamphetamine and cocaine from being successfully smuggled during a two-week period.
On Valentine’s Day, Rio Grande Valley Sector CBP officers assigned to the Anzalduas International Bridge observed a 2003 Ford Expedition approaching for entry into the United States. The officers referred the driver and his passenger, a man and woman from Fresno, California, to a secondary inspection. Officers utilized a K-9 inspection team to carry out an initial search of the SUV, according to information obtained from Rio Grande Valley Sector CBP officials.
During the search, the officers found six packages of liquid methamphetamine hidden inside the vehicle’s gas tank, officials reported. The meth weighed 119 pounds. Officials estimated the value of the drugs at $2,010,000.
Two days earlier, officers assigned to the Hidalgo International Bridge observed a silver 2011 Ford Escape approaching for entry from Reynosa, Tamaulipas. A K-9 team alerted to an odor it is trained to detect leading to a physical search of the SUV. During the search, CBP officers found 12 packages they later determined to be cocaine. The cocaine weighed about 33 pounds and had an estimated street value of $254,000, officials stated. The officers arrested the Mexican national on charges of drug smuggling.
In two other incidents, RGV Sector CBP officers seized another 17.63 pounds of cocaine and seized $36,600 in undeclared cash.
On Sunday, Laredo Sector CBP officers made two drug seizures at ports of entry.
Officers assigned to the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge seized 140 pounds of methamphetamine they discovered in a 1990 Volkswagen van. The officers seized the drugs and vehicle and placed the 54-year-old Mexican national from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, under arrest.
Later that day, officers at the same bridge arrested a 48-year-old Mexican female, also from Monterrey, after a K-9 alert and a non-intrusive imaging inspection led to the discovery of 10 packages of cocaine weighing 24 pounds.
The Laredo Sector seizures totaled more than $2.9 million, officials reported.
During this same time period, CBP officers in El Paso seized 1,500 pounds of liquid methamphetamine that could be worth more than $100 million, Breitbart Texas reported.
In total, the CBP officers in these two sectors seized an estimated $5.3 million in drugs headed to the U.S. interior and found $36,600 in undeclared U.S. currency bound for Mexico.
“What we do at our borders … impacts every community, not just along the southwest border,” CBP Acting-Commissioner Mark Morgan told reporters just days before this seizure. “Methamphetamine seizures and meth-related deaths are up. That’s a fact that should be a wake-up call for everyone that’s unaware of the nexus between America’s drug epidemic and our borders — specifically the southwest border.”
Morgan cited data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention showing that from May 2018 to May 2019 there were nearly 25 percent more deaths involving meth than the previous year.
“When we encounter the drugs at the southwest border we know exactly where they are going,” the commissioner stated emphatically, “into every town, city, and community in this country. Just last month alone, CBP seized more than 53,736 pounds of drugs and just over 50,000 pounds were seized on the southwest border. This year drug seizures are up 51 percent from last year.”
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for the Breitbart Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.
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