Customs and Border Patrol agents seize largest cocaine load in Philadelphia in 10 years

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers from the Area Port of Philadelphia recently seized 709 pounds of cocaine, the largest local cocaine load in 10 years, which they found concealed inside cabinets shipped from Puerto Rico.

The cocaine load, which has an estimated street value of about $22 million, is CBP’s 6th largest cocaine seizure and 10th largest seizure of any illicit drug in the Port of Philadelphia.

Because of the seizure, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Newark’s Office in Cherry Hill, New Jersey launched an investigation that is still active.

“Customs and Border Protection knows that transnational drug trafficking organizations will take advantage of natural disasters, and in this case an island struggling to recover from a crippling hurricane, to smuggle dangerous drugs to our nation’s mainland,” Joseph Martella, CBP Acting Area Port Director for the Area Port of Philadelphia, said. “CBP officers remain ever vigilant to interdict narcotics loads, and we are pleased to have stopped this deadly poison shipment before it could hurt our communities.”

Officers discovered the drugs after examining shipping containers at a seaport in Pennsauken, New Jersey, on Nov. 2. They detected an anomaly in one container and transported it to CBP’s Centralized Examination Station in Philadelphia. After thorough inspection of the container’s contents, officers discovered false walls in several pieces of furniture bedroom and kitchen cabinets that concealed 256 bricks of a substance that field tested positive for cocaine.

CBP officers also discovered an approximately 30-pound cocaine load at the same seaport on Nov. 28 concealed inside a wooden chest shipped from Puerto Rico and destined for an address in Cinnaminson, New Jersey.

This is CBP’s second significant cocaine seizure from Puerto Rico. Officers found 386 pounds of cocaine concealed throughout the body of a pick-up truck on July 9, 2012.

It also CBP’s largest cocaine seizure in Philadelphia since officers discovered 864 pounds of cocaine hidden in a shipping container from the Dominican Republic on March 8, 2007.