A tractor-trailer crossing into the U.S. from Mexico was discovered to be carrying more than 10 tons of marijuana – that’s an estimated street value of $8.4 million.
Around 9 a.m. on the morning of November 18, a tractor-trailer driven by a 47-year-old Mexican citizen drove through the Otay Mesa Cargo port of entry. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer looked over the truck’s manifest, which said it was carrying a shipment of “plastic garment hangers.” The officer directed the driver to undergo an x-ray examination. During that examination, CBP officers found an “anomaly,” according to a press release, and brought in a dog to search the vehicle. The dog alerted the handlers to the trailer, and officers climbed inside to conduct a search.
After searching through a few rows of boxes, CBP officers discovered 858 packages of marijuana, wrapped in plastic and stacked from the floor to the ceiling. The packages contained more than 10 tons of marijuana for an estimated street value of about $8.4 million.
“The ability of CBP officers to interdict contraband at the port of entry is a perfect example of CBP’s efforts to secure our border,” said Joseph Misenhelter, Officer in Charge at the Otay Mesa port of entry. “CBP officers prevented over 10 tons of marijuana from entering our community.”
CBP officers seized the marijuana as well as the truck, trailer, and cargo shipment. The driver’s B1/B2 visa was also cancelled and he was turned over to Homeland Security.
This is simply the latest drug bust for CBP. Last week, officers uncovered 24 bottles of shampoo inside a man’s suitcase that contained 35 pounds of liquid cocaine – an estimated street value of $400,000. The man was intercepted as he attempted to retrieve his luggage at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The man, a 26-year-old Columbian citizen, was sent back to his home country once the drugs were seized.
In mid-June, federal law enforcement officials in Philadelphia seized 16.5 tons of cocaine, the largest drug bust in the history of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
In September, Virginia police arrested more than 30 people suspected of possessing a massive quantity of fentanyl, enough to kill 14 million people. It was the largest drug bust in Virginia in the past 15 years, with authorities seizing more than 30 kilograms each of fentanyl and heroine, another five kilograms of cocaine, and more than $700,000.
“This opioid crisis is not an issue that is happening someplace else, or to someone else. It’s happening right here in Norfolk,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, G. Zachary Terwilliger, said during a press conference at the time of the arrests.
“We’re not talking about $500 and $600 deals, we’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he added. “You know, $20,000 in the trunk of somebody’s car in a gym bag, you know, behind a local restaurant.”
In late October, police in North Carolina arrested four people in connection with a drug trafficking scheme, seizing 6,800 pounds of marijuana, 39 pounds of cocaine, and $200,000.