Breitbart Texas confirmed that 86 pounds-worth of methamphetamine were discovered inside four fire extinguishers. Border Patrol agents conducted the bust on April 18 at the Falfurrias checkpoint in South Texas.
Daniel Tirado, a spokesman for the Rio Grande Valley Border Patrol Sector, told Breitbart Texas that a K-9 unit initially alerted officers that there were drugs inside a vehicle attempting to cross the border. Further inspection revealed a massive amount of meth hidden inside fake red extinguishers.
The confiscated drugs have an estimated street value of over $2.7 million.
Tirado said there were two individuals in the vehicle at the time of the seizure.
Although the recent incident may seem extraordinary, Tirado said situations like this are not uncommon on the Texas/Mexican border.
“Smugglers are very creative,” he said. “We’ve seen drugs in concrete, batteries, just about anything you can think of. Our agents are well-experienced in detecting these methods. K-9 alerts make it relatively easy for agents to pinpoint the drugs.”
At this time, it is not known if the suspects are U.S. citizens or foreign nationals.
The incident is only the most recent in a string of large-scale narcotic seizures along Texas’ southern border this year.
In early April, Breitbart Texas reported on an incident in which $81,000 worth of meth and heroin were reportedly confiscated from a Mexican national. The U.S. Border Patrol stated that the drugs were being held in several vacuum-sealed bags. The smuggler allegedly tried to hide the bags in his vehicle’s fuel tank.
Tirado said that agents in his area seize about 1,300 pounds of narcotics every week. He added, “The sizes of busts vary.”
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