U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers assigned to the Nogales Port of Entry in Arizona seized 800 pounds of methamphetamine and fentanyl being smuggling into the United States from Mexico. This sets a new record for the Nogales Port of Entry.
CBP officers working the Nogales Port of Entry on Friday observed a tractor-trailer approaching for entry inspection to the United States from Mexico, according to information obtained from CBP Office of Field Operations staff. The driver, a 55-year-old male, presented documents listing bell peppers, pickles, and cucumbers.
Officers referred the driver to a secondary inspection station where a non-intrusive imaging search of the trailer led to the discovery of multiple “non-factory floor compartments,” officials stated. A physical search of the compartments yielded nearly 650 packages believed to be filled with drugs.
Officers tested the drugs and identified approximately 800 pounds of methamphetamine — the largest such find in the history of Arizona ports of entry, officials declared. In addition, the officers identified nine pounds of fentanyl.
Area Port Director Michael Humphries commended the officers assigned to the Nogales Mariposa Cargo Facility for this record-breaking drug seizure. “This is an enormous amount of very dangerous hard narcotics that Nogales Cargo Officers prevented from reaching communities throughout the United States.”
CBP officials seized the nearly $2 million worth of drugs and arrested the driver.
This seizure shattered the previous record of a nearly 700-pound meth seizure from March, Breitbart Texas reported. The officers also found this shipment of dangerous drugs in false floor compartments inside a trailer filled with produce.
The officers arrested the 34-year-old Mexican national and seized the tractor-trailer and drugs. Officers turned the driver over to ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agents for further investigation.
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.