U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations (OFO) at the Pharr International Bridge cargo facility intercepted a significant amount of hard narcotics, which included mostly alleged methamphetamine valued at $18,418,500 in a commercial produce shipment.
“This was truly a notable seizure in the commercial environment,” said Port Director Carlos Rodriguez, Port of Hidalgo/Pharr/ Anzalduas. “Our officers’ ability to maintain an excellent enforcement posture while keeping trade flowing and uninterrupted is one of our main priorities.”
This outstanding find occurred on Feb. 16 at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge cargo facility after a CBP officer referred a tractor/trailer hauling a commercial shipment of fresh broccoli for further examination. The first part of the inspection involved utilizing non-intrusive imaging (NII) equipment, which allowed the officers to discover a total of 432 packages of suspected narcotics hidden within the trailer.
CBP officers removed and seized 341 packages of alleged methamphetamine weighing 895 pounds (406 kg) valued at $18,000,000, 87 packages of alleged marijuana weighing 202 pounds (91.5 kg) valued at $40,000, three packages of alleged heroin with a weight of 8.82 pounds (4 kg) valued at $353,000 and one package weighing 3.31 pounds (1.5 kg) of alleged cocaine valued at $25,500.
CBP OFO seized all the narcotics along with the tractor/trailer and the case remains under investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
