Advertisement

Meth worth $12.7M seized in strawberry shipment at border

By Clyde Hughes
Packages containing 906 pounds of meth seized by Custom and Border Protection officers at
 Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in Texas this week. Photo courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Packages containing 906 pounds of meth seized by Custom and Border Protection officers at Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in Texas this week. Photo courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Feb. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Texas reported confiscating $12.7 million worth of methamphetamine at the Pharr International Bridge to Mexico.

The agents stopped a commercial tractor-trailer Saturday at the bridge with frozen strawberries arriving from Mexico and was pulled over for additional inspection, a statement from Customs and Border Protection said.

Advertisement

The agents said they found 350 packages of methamphetamine concealed within the trailer, weighing 906 pounds.

A 42-year-old Mexican national was arrested and turned over to Homeland Security.

"This was an outstanding interception our officers accomplished this weekend," David Gonzalez, Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry director, said. "Our officers' astute sense of awareness and tenacity is unparalleled and truly commendable."

The seizure marked the third bust worth millions along the border this year.

In January, U.S. and Australian authorities discovered nearly 2 tons of meth in Los Angeles being prepared for shipment to Australia hidden in packages labeled as loudspeakers. It was called the largest meth bust in U.S. history. Authorities also found 56 pounds of cocaine and 11 pounds of heroin.

In another January bust along the Arizona border, agents seized more than 250 pounds of fentanyl and 395 pounds of meth at the Nogales Port of Entry. Authorities called that the third-largest meth seizure at an Arizona border crossing.

Advertisement

Authorities discovered those drugs, worth $4.7 million, in hidden compartments in a tractor-trailer carrying cucumbers from Mexico.

Customs and Border Protection statistics show that in the first 11 months of fiscal 2018, 90 percent of the heroin intercepted at the border, 88 percent of the cocaine, 87 percent of meth and 80 percent of fentanyl was captured at a legal port of entry rather than between ports.

Latest Headlines