A drug bust earlier this month at the Los Indios International Bridge near Brownsville, Texas, seized more than $1.3 million in methamphetamine and black tar heroin from reaching U.S. streets, federal officials said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers assigned to the port of entry seized the drugs on Oct. 6, when a 37-year-old Mexican man attempted to enter the U.S. in a 2001 Chevrolet.
After going through a primary inspection, officers referred the vehicle to secondary inspection for a closer look. With help from a drug-sniffing dog and X-ray technology, CBP officers discovered packages hidden inside the car.
Officers removed the packages and found they contained about 67 pounds of methamphetamine and 42.5 pounds of black tar heroin — with a combined estimated street value of more than $1.3 million, officials said.
Cars run thorugh a gauntlet of high-tech cameras and scanners heading into Mexico from the United States in Brownsville, Texas. (Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis via Getty Images)
Once the officers seized the drugs, they seized the vehicle and turned the driver, a Mexican national, over to agents with Homeland Security Investigations who initiated a criminal investigation.
“Our officers work with diligence as they perform their duties and their efforts led to this significant drug seizure, keeping the dangerous narcotics from reaching our communities,” Brownsville port of entry director Tater Ortiz said.
CBP officers discovered over $1 million in suspected heroin and methamphetamine during a secondary inspection at a border crossing in Brownsville, Texas, on Oct. 6. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
The bust comes as the Trump administration bolsters efforts to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. military carried out another strike on a suspected drug vessel off the coast of Venezuela, killing six suspected smugglers.
The U.S. killed six alleged drug traffickers on a boat in international waters near Venezuela, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday. (realDonaldTrump/Truth Social)
Trump said on Truth Social that intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics and was associated with illicit “narcoterrorist networks.”
The White House sent lawmakers a memo on Sept. 30, informing them that the U.S. is participating in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug smugglers. The most recent strike on a narcotics vessel comes on the heels of four other fatal strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean since September.
The border seizure adds to a growing list of federal actions targeting international smuggling networks.
