CBP Officers Seize More Than Half a Million in Heroin and Cocaine at the Laredo Port of Entry
Written by Post Public Information Representative, Sep 1, 2015, Comments Off
Courtesy Richard Pauza,
LAREDO, TEXAS – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers assigned to work at the Lincoln Juarez Bridge seized heroin and cocaine with a combined value of $656,207 this past weekend.
“These are excellent interceptions from our CBP officers,” said Port Director Joseph Misenhelter, Laredo Port of Entry. “These seizures demonstrate how our officers’ determination, training and utilization of technology and canines led to the discovery of these hard narcotics.”
The latest incident occurred on Sunday, Aug. 30 when a CBP officer referred a 1997 Ford Explorer driven by a 25-year-old male Mexican citizen from Lomas De Tzompantle, Mexico for a secondary examination. CBP officers noticed anomalies within the vehicle during the non-intrusive imaging system inspection which led to the discovery of 9 pounds of alleged heroin valued at $358,027.
The other seizure occurred on Saturday, Aug. 29 after a CBP officer referred a 2011 Acura driven by a 38-year-old male Mexican citizen from Monterrey for a secondary examination. After a canine alerted to the vehicle, CBP officers extracted 16 packages containing 39 pounds of alleged cocaine concealed within the vehicle.
CBP officers seized the narcotics and vehicles in each incident and arrested both men. The men and cases were then turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) special agents for further investigation.
