Intercepting Narcotics at Pharr International Bridge
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
PHARR (News Release) - Officers with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations (OFO) at the Pharr International Bridge cargo facility were busy recently with the interception of two separate, unrelated seizures of alleged methamphetamine and marijuana valued at $8,348,000 discovered within commercial shipments arriving from Mexico.
“Our officers definitely rose to the challenge by detecting these narcotics loads in two separate commercial shipments at our cargo facility,” said Port Director Carlos Rodriguez, Port of Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas. “As daunting a task as this may seem, our officers are able to effectively balance processing lawful trade while maintaining a robust enforcement posture to advance our border security mission.”
The first seizure occurred early on April 28, 2021 after CBP officers assigned to the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge cargo facility encountered an empty tractor/trailer arriving from Mexico. A secondary examination that included a non-intrusive imaging (NII) system inspection allowed the officers to detect packages of suspected narcotics concealed within the trailer. Officers removed a total of 1,641 packages containing alleged marijuana weighing 624 pounds (282 kg) which are valued at $125,000.
Hours later, officers referred a tractor/trailer hauling a commercial shipment of fresh strawberries for further inspection and ultimately, officers discovered 177 packages of alleged methamphetamine concealed within the boxes of strawberries. These bundles of narcotics weighed 411 pounds (186.5 kg) and are valued at $8,223,000.
CBP OFO seized all the narcotics, both conveyances and the cases remain under investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).