Pricey pepper shipment packed with $2.6M of cocaine
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas port of entry recently intercepted more than $2.6 million in cocaine concealed within a shipment of peppers.
“Drug trafficking organizations don’t take holiday weekends off, and neither do we,” said Port Director Carlos Rodriguez, Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry. “As these two significant narcotics interceptions aptly illustrate, CBP maintains its enforcement posture regardless of the time of year.”
On Dec. 1, a tractor trailer making entry from Mexico was selected for inspection, which included utilization of non-intrusive inspection equipment. After physically inspecting the tractor trailer, officers extracted 80 packages of alleged cocaine weighing 196.21 pounds concealed within the shipment of peppers. The cocaine has an estimated street value of $2.62 million.
CBP OFO seized the narcotics and vehicle from the enforcement encounter. Homeland Security Investigations special agents initiated criminal investigations into the seizure.
