U.S. Customs Border Patrol (CBP) stationed at CBP’s Laredo Field Office seized a significant amount of cocaine inside a commercial bus.
Border Patrol stopped a bus crossing the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge, an entry port that crosses from Mexico into Laredo, Texas.
The bus, identified as a 2004 Motor Coach Industries Limited bus, was pulled aside for canine and non-intrusive inspection system examination.
The bus model is commonly used as a commercial passenger vehicle or tour vehicle. Border Patrol did not release information related to potential passengers or drivers in the bus at the time of inspection.
Agents discovered over 120 pounds of cocaine throughout the bus. Border Patrol estimates the street value of the cocaine exceeds $1.6 million.
Laredo Port of Entry Director Albert Flores commended his Border Patrol agents for hard work and perseverance.
“The CBP officers’ experience played a significant role in these interceptions. Our CBP officers’ hard work, perseverance, and utilization of our canines and non-intrusive inspection systems resulted in the interception of these hard narcotics.”
Homeland Security Investigations has assigned special agents to investigate the seizure.
While many illegal drugs are seized at the border ports of entry, large quantities continue to evade authorities. Some of those illegal drugs make their way to Dallas, where drug and narcotic violations are up year-over-year.
According to the Dallas Police Department’s crime analytics dashboard, as of April 27, drug and narcotic violations are up roughly 7% year-over-year, while drug equipment violations are up over 50% year-over-year in the City of Dallas.
Rising drug-related crime in cities like Dallas has continued to strain political divides in the nation’s capital.
Last month, Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn harshly reprimanded Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at a Senate Judiciary Hearing.
“The men and women of the Border Patrol, they’ve never had a political leader undermine them. They despise you, Mr. Secretary, because you’re willing to let children be raped to follow political orders. This is a crisis. It’s a disgrace. And you won’t even admit this human tragedy is a crisis,” Cruz said.
Last week, House Republicans piled onto the Secretary and made a case for his impeachment and removal from office.
Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins accused the Secretary of causing generational traumas.
“You’ve brought generational trauma upon our country. I believe history will witness your era of service as a transitional time in our country. What was America before Secretary Mayorkas and what was America like after him? It’s stunning that you can sit there and smugly grin as if you’ve not miserably failed your country!” Higgins said.
