Laredo CBP Officers Seize Cocaine Worth Over $715K at World Trade Bridge

LAREDO, Texas—U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Office of Field Operations (OFO) officers seized narcotics in one enforcement action that totaled over $715,000 in street value.

“As our frontline CBP officers enforce more than 400 laws on behalf of more than 40 federal agencies, their vigilance and ever-present dedication to CBP’s priority border security mission leads to significant seizures of hard narcotics in the commercial environment, as this seizure aptly illustrates,” said Port Director Alberto Flores, Laredo Port of Entry.

The first enforcement action occurred on July 19th at the World Trade Bridge, after CBP officers encountered tractor manifesting reconditioned totes arriving from Mexico. The 2004 Freightliner was referred for a canine and non-intrusive imaging system inspection, resulting in the discovery of 35 packages containing 92.81 pounds of alleged cocaine within the trailer.

The narcotics had an estimated street value of $715,700.

CBP seized the narcotics and the trailer in connection with the alleged smuggling attempt. The case was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) special agents for further investigation.