A massive drug bust occurred Thursday, August 1, near the Pharr International Bridge, which connects Texas and Mexico. An 18-wheeler contained several thousand pounds of methamphetamine.
On Thursday, border police stopped an 18-wheeler that appeared to be transporting lettuce between the two countries for further investigation. After using non-intrusive inspection equipment, a physical inspection of the grocery truck revealed nearly 1,500 packages of meth, amounting to a staggering 3,429.6 pounds of the highly addictive street narcotic.
“Our CPB officers remain vigilant and intercepted this massive methamphetamine load from reaching American streets,” stated Port Director for Hidalgo, Pharr, and Anzaldua Carlos Rodriguez in a statement. “Congratulations to our diligent officers who made this record-breaking interception!”
According to a statement from US Customs and Border Protection, the bust is the greatest methamphetamine seizure at the Hidalgo Port of Entry in history. All the drugs discovered had a street value of $48 million.
This is just one of several narcotics busts conducted by border patrol agents last year. Border patrol officials conducted another large narcotics bust along the Texas-Mexico border on Sunday, June 30, according to a news release issued that week. Drug traffickers intercepted nearly 578 pounds of meth along a bridge that connects the two countries in Brownsville, Texas.
According to reports from the United States Customs and Border Protection Agency, border inspectors at the Pharr International Bridge in Brownsville halted a tractor trailer transporting cucumbers and bell peppers and requested a secondary check. Inspectors employed canines and non-invasive examination procedures to locate 360 packages, hidden within the produce truck, containing approximately $5.1 million in methamphetamine.
“Our frontline CBP officers continue to deploy a strategic combination of inspection experience coupled with technology, and that effort yielded this significant methamphetamine seizure,” Laredo Port of Entry Director Carlos Rodrguez said in a statement. “These types of seizures illustrate CBP’s efforts to protect our communities from the spread of hard narcotics.”
On Sunday, June 9, investigators said they apprehended a 24-year-old guy from Harlingen, Texas, attempting to enter the United States in a 2006 Ford. Canines and inspection technicians led border authorities to pounds of illegal drugs when they took the car for further screening at the border.
According to a statement from the US Customs and Border Protection Field Operations Office, agents intercepted approximately $1.6 million in cocaine, fentanyl, heroin, and alprazolam. Traffickers attempted to cross the Los Indios International Bridge in Brownsville, Texas, leading to the confiscation of the drugs. The National Library of Medicine classifies alprazolam as a psychotropic medication used to treat pain and anxiety.
