48 Pounds of Liquid Meth Seized at Immigration Checkpoint 80 Miles from Border

Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol agents seized nearly 50 pounds of liquid methamphetamine at an inland immigration checkpoint located about 80 miles north of the border. In addition, agents patrolling near Brownsville, Texas, found four smuggling “mules” carrying more than 65 pounds of marijuana.

Falfurrias Station Border Patrol agents assigned to the immigration checkpoint located on U.S. Highway 281 about 80 miles north of the Mexican border with Texas observed a Hyundai sedan approaching for inspection. During an initial interview and inspection, a K-9 agent alerted to an odor it is trained to detect, according to information provided by Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol officials.

The agents referred the driver to a secondary inspection station where they conducted a search of the vehicle. During the search, the agents found 48 pounds of liquid methamphetamine. Officials estimated the value of the liquid meth to be approximately $1.5 million.

Earlier that morning, agents patrolling the Rio Grande near Brownsville encountered several people carrying backpacks. The agents seized three bundles of marijuana and arrested four smugglers, officials stated. The agents estimated the value of the marijuana to be approximately $52,000.

The Falfurrias Immigration Checkpoint is frequently the scene of drug and human smuggling interactions, Breitbart Texas reported. The newly rebuilt station increased its capacity to screen vehicles and carry out additional secondary inspections.

The ranchlands surrounding the Falfurrias Checkpoint are also frequently the scene of migrant deaths as callous human smugglers abandon migrants as they attempt to circumvent the checkpoint.

“Human smugglers have no regard for the lives of the people they smuggle into this country,” Brooks County Sheriff Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas in a phone interview earlier this year. “If someone gets injured or they get dehydrated, overheated, suffer hypothermia in the winter, or for any other reason cannot keep up, the cartel-connected human smugglers simply abandon them and leave them to die.”

So far this year, Border Patrol agents and Brooks County Sheriff’s Office deputies recovered the remains of 16 deceased migrants on the ranches surrounding the Falfurrias checkpoint, sheriff’s office officials told Breitbart Texas.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.