U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized 354 pounds of methamphetamine from a pickup truck on Saturday that was attempting to enter the United States from Mexico.
A press release from the agency (CBP) said officers working at the Paso Del Norte international crossing discovered the methamphetamine around 4 p.m. when a drug dog alerted them to the bed of the truck.
CBP El Paso director of field operation Hector Mancha said in the press release that “CBP officers utilized a variety of tools to identify and stop this smuggler.”
The truck, which a 31-year-old Mexican woman was driving, was taken for a Z-Portal x-ray scan, and a physical search of the truck resulted in officers finding 161 foil-wrapped bundles of methamphetamine hidden in the bed liner, according to the CBP press release.
Mancha called the discovery “an enormous seizure” and said it “demonstrates the need for CBP officers to remain vigilant at all times.”
The driver was taken into custody by CBP officers and later handed over to the Texas Department of Public Safety, where she will face undetermined charges relating to the smuggling attempt.
Seizures such as these have also been occurring all over the border. On Monday, CBP chief Jason Owens reported on social media that officers seized 843 pounds of narcotics in a bust.
The post detailed that the seized drugs included 792 pounds of marijuana, 36 pounds of methamphetamine, 9 pounds of heroin, and 6 pounds of fentanyl.
Similarly, CBP reported that officers seized more than 387 pounds of fentanyl at the border in October, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Both President Joe Biden and Gov. Greg Abbott have taken multiple steps to reduce the amount of drugs flowing into the United States, putting an emphasis on stopping fentanyl.
Biden recently spoke with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to discuss steps that could be taken to reduce the amount of fentanyl being smuggled into the United States.
Abbott has also taken steps to help mitigate the ongoing fentanyl crisis, such as the creation of a fentanyl data dashboard, as reported by The Dallas Express. The dashboard is meant to raise awareness by highlighting the high number of deaths associated with the drug in Texas.
The dashboard states that there were 2,189 deaths associated with fentanyl in 2022, which is significantly higher than the 79 deaths reported in 2014. Death certificates are currently being filed for 2023.
In Dallas, there have been more than 9,000 drug offenses logged by the Dallas Police Department this year, according to the City’s crime overview dashboard. The department has been struggling to get crime under control due to its serious staffing shortage.
A City analysis alleges that a municipality the size of Dallas should have about three officers on duty for every 1,000 residents, putting an ideal staffing level at about 4,000 officers. DPD currently fields fewer than 3,200.
The effects of the staffing shortage have been felt in Downtown Dallas. The city center clocks significantly higher crime rates than nearby Fort Worth’s downtown area, which is reportedly patrolled by a dedicated neighborhood police unit that works alongside private security guards.