U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers stationed at the Port of Nogales in Arizona recently made a seizure of 51 pounds of methamphetamine in a single traffic stop.
The incident began as a 24-year-old Tucson, Arizona, resident driving a Chevrolet Impala sedan applied for entry into the United States at the port’s Dennis DeConcini crossing. The man was then referred for a more thorough, secondary inspection.
With the use of a non-intrusive, narcotics detection canine team, CBP officers discovered a total of 48 black plastic-wrapped packages of methamphetamine in a number of locations throughout the vehicle, including its rear bumper, quarter panels, firewall, and roof.
“CBP officers are trained and skilled at what they do to prevent drugs from entering the country as proven in this case,” CBP Nogales Port Director Efrain Solis said. “While smugglers will continue to make these attempts, they will not thwart CBP’s efforts. They need to know they will be caught.”
Officers arrested the man for narcotics trafficking and turned him over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit for criminal processing. CBP also seized the narcotics along with the man’s vehicle.
CBP’s Office of Field Operations (OFO) is an organization within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security tasked with counterterrorism missions throughout the nation’s ports. Along with helping facilitate legitimate trade and travel, CBP OFO also conducts a number of border-related tasks including narcotics interdiction and enforcing immigration laws.