U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) officers seized roughly 370 pounds of methamphetamine in early June at the Del Rio Port of Entry on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Del Rio is a border town in Texas, about 150 miles west of San Antonio.
Law enforcement executed the seizure at the border crossing checkpoint after discovering the illegal drugs in a “2007 utility vehicle” attempting to enter the United States from Mexico, according to a CBP press release.
CBP officers encountered the vehicle and flagged it for additional inspection, where it was subjected to “non-intrusive inspection technologies” and a K-9 search. Officers found six large packages of methamphetamine in the vehicle.
The driver, a Mexican national, was placed under arrest. The case has since been referred to special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations.
The seized methamphetamine had an estimated street value of $1.68 million, according to CBP.
“This is a significant quantity of hard narcotics to be discovered,” said Liliana Flores, director of the Del Rio Port of Entry. “This methamphetamine interception underscores the seriousness of the hard narcotics threat that our officers face on a daily basis and the determination of CBP to uphold our border security mission and prevent these drugs from reaching U.S. streets.”
Law enforcement officials have not provided further details about the arrest or seizure.
While $1.68 million worth of methamphetamine may seem like a lot, a drug bust at the Laredo Port of Entry in April yielded more than $35 million worth of the same drug.
“This mammoth seizure of methamphetamine underscores the reality of the drug threat we face at the port of entry and the determination of our frontline officers to apply the latest inspections technology coupled with officer experience to keep our border secure,” said Albert Flores, director of the Laredo Port of Entry, per KKTV 11.