(GoRealNewsNow.com) – Over 1 ton of methamphetamine has been seized in a massive bust by US Customs and Border Protection agents at the Southern Border amid spiking narcotics and human smuggling from Mexico.
The huge meth shipment was captured from traffickers hauling a trailer arriving in the US through the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge near Loredo, Texas.
The massive amount of drugs was hidden in a shipment of plaster, The Washington Times reports.
The bust was made on August 7, when a Border Patrol officer flagged a white 2011 Chevrolet Silverado for a secondary inspection.
The pickup truck was hauling a trailer with a manifest for a shipment of plaster. Drug-sniffing dogs alerted officers on the trailer, leading the CBP agents to discover over 2,135 pounds of methamphetamine, slightly over 1 ton.
According to the release of Customs and Border Protection, the narcotic had a retail street value of $19 million.
The CBP seized the methamphetamine, and Homeland Security Investigations is probing the incident.
The border agency didn’t offer any details about the drug-trafficking driver of the pickup truck or the potential charges he would face.
“Frontline officers at the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge demonstrated exceptional effort in successfully disrupting this drug smuggling attempt,” said Alberto Flores, Port Director for the Laredo Port of Entry.
“This massive drug bust is a prime example of the efficient targeting strategies utilized in the cargo environment to help combat the flow of hard narcotics seeping into our communities,” he added.
In another methamphetamine trafficking bust last month, Customs and Border Protection officers at the Tecate Port of Entry seized another massive methamphetamine shipment with a total weight of 1,815.59 pounds and a street value of almost $4 million. The narcotics were hidden in a tractor-trailer.
At the end of May, an even bigger bust occurred when officers assigned to the Otay Mesa Cargo Facility captured 5,788.41 pounds of methamphetamine. The drugs were hidden in a shipment of kale and had an estimated street value of $38 million.
Some 7 million illegal immigrants have crossed into the US alongside spiking smuggling of drug shipments since Joe Biden occupied the White House in January 2021.
U.S. border agents find 1 ton of meth in a shipment of plaster https://t.co/mz9KPdjpHO
— The Washington Times (@WashTimes) August 10, 2023