Border Patrol agents seized 4,200 pounds of marijuana, with an estimated value of more than $3.4 million, at the Interstate 35 checkpoint around 7 a.m. Tuesday.”We’re sending a strong message to smugglers,” said Carlos Carrillo, chief patrol agent for the Laredo sector. “People who contraband, it’s not as easy as one would think to smuggle through Laredo.”
Prompted by a K-9 unit, agents inspected a tractor-trailer.
After being X-rayed with the Vehicle and Cargo Inspection System, 146 bundles of marijuana were found mixed in a tequila shipment, according to a Border Patrol news release.
The unidentified driver of the marijuana bust was taken into custody.
“It’s something not seen everyday,” said Laredo sector spokesman Robert Daniels. “It shows the desperation of the smugglers.”
Carrillo said a significant seizure displays law enforcement’s success in community service.
“This amount of drugs did not make it into the streets, into the communities of the United States,” Carrillo said.
Smuggling happens but, “the Laredo north checkpoint, it has been steadily producing seizures daily,” Daniels said.
Teamwork with the Drug Enforcement Administration has been important for busts, Carrillo said.
Earlier Tuesday, around midnight, agents snared 190 pounds of cocaine, with an estimated value of $6.2 million, from a commercial bus.
A Turimex Internacional bus was at the I-35 checkpoint when a K-9 unit made a routine inspection, a news release states. The unit alerted to the possibility of hidden people or narcotics.
After searching, the drugs were found in the luggage compartment, separated into three bags concealed with the other luggage, according to the release.
The driver was processed for removal and for possession of fraudulent documents, Daniels said.
This was the second time this week that BP agents confiscated drugs aboard a bus.
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