Border Control Seizes Over Half a Million Dollars in Meth From Strawberry Shipment
PHARR, TX - The always tumultuous love story between fresh produce shipments and drug smuggling has just added a new chapter—$550,000 worth of alleged methamphetamine has been found in a commercial shipment of fresh strawberries.
“This was a great interception of hard narcotics that our officers conducted at the cargo facility,” explained Port Director Efrain Solis Jr., Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry in a statement. “Every seizure of narcotics is significant and treated with the same priority, no matter the quantity.”
On February 27, officers at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office at the Pharr International Bridge encountered a 39-year-old man from Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, driving a tractor/trailer with a commercial shipment of fresh produce. After referring the truck for secondary inspection, the Border patrol office says it had to use “all available tools and resources” to discover two packages of alleged methamphetamine hidden within the truck. According to a press release, CBP removed and seized the nearly 28 pounds of the drug as well as the 2013 Freightliner tractor.
The CBP arrested the truck driver and released him to the custody of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents for further investigation.
