Border Crisis: Officers seize $459K worth of cocaine at Brownsville

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations officers assigned to Brownsville Port of Entry took down two significant loads of cocaine the same day with a combined street value of $459,000.

“These back-to-back cocaine seizures illustrate the gravity of the narcotics threat our frontline CBP officers face every day as well as their determination to keep our border safe and uphold CBP’s priority border security mission,” said (A) Port Director Michael B. Reyes, Brownsville Port of Entry.

The first seizure took place on Wednesday, Feb. 7, at B&M International Bridge when a 50-year-old male United States citizen attempted entry into the United States in a 2019 GMC SUV. The vehicle was referred to CBP secondary for further examination after a primary inspection. While in the secondary inspection area, with the aid of a canine unit and use of nonintrusive inspection systems, CBP officers discovered six packages hidden within the vehicle. CBP officers removed the packages which contained a total of 14.37 pounds of alleged cocaine.

The second seizure also took place on Wednesday, Feb. 7, at Veterans International Bridge when a 25-year-old male United States citizen attempted entry into the United States in a 2009 Dodge. The vehicle was referred to CBP secondary for further examination after a primary inspection. While in the secondary inspection area, with the aid of a canine unit, CBP officers discovered nine packages hidden within the vehicle. CBP officers removed the packages which contained a total of 20.01 pounds of alleged cocaine.

The combined estimated street value of the cocaine from the two seizure is approximately $459,210.

CBP officers seized the narcotics along with the vehicles, arrested the drivers and turned them over to the custody of Homeland Security Investigations special agents for further investigation.