Federal customs officers inspecting vehicles at a border crossing in South Texas discovered $14 million worth of cocaine and methamphetamine hidden in three vehicles over a two-day span.
Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations officers at the Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry in the Rio Grande Valley busted drivers of a commercial truck, minivan, and pickup truck who were smuggling hard drugs into the United States from Mexico last week.
“These three significant methamphetamine and cocaine seizures in both the cargo and the passenger vehicle environment underscore the severity of the hard narcotics threat we face every day and the grit and determination of our frontline officers to stop these loads in their tracks, before they can enter the U.S. and poison our communities,” said port director Carlos Rodriguez in a statement late Tuesday.
In the largest seizure on Nov. 16, Pharr International Bridge officers found $12 million worth of meth concealed in a commercial truck that had claimed to be transporting charcoal. The 1,337 pounds of meth were wrapped in more than 1,500 packages.
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That same day, a few miles west at the Anzalduas International Bridge, CBP officers found 53 pounds of meth hidden inside candy boxes in a 2014 Dodge Caravan. The haul was valued at $492,000 worth of meth.
On Nov. 17, officers at the Pharr bridge discovered 149 pounds of cocaine inside a shipment of aluminum scraps being transported by a 2008 Ford F-350. The seizure was worth nearly $2 million.
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The drugs were turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations arm, which will investigate and potentially refer the drivers for prosecution.
