CBP agents seize $1.1 billion of cocaine in Philadelphia

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) last week seized more than 17.5 tons of cocaine with an estimated street value of $1.1 billion at the Philadelphia seaport.

Agents from the U.S. Coast Guard, CBP and HSI detected anomalies on seven shipping containers aboard a Liberian-flagged container ship. The containers contained a variety of cargo from multiple countries.

CBP seized 15,582 bricks of cocaine along with $56,330 believed to be proceeds from illegal activity.

“This is momentous work by the CBP team at the Port of Philadelphia,” Casey Durst, CBP’s Director of Field Operations in Baltimore, said. “Their vigilance and inspectional scrutiny resulted in the interception of the largest seizure of cocaine in the [230-year] history of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Because of our officers’ efforts, over 1 billion dollars of dangerous narcotics was taken off the streets. I have no doubt that our officers saved lives and significantly impacted transnational criminal organizations with this interception.”

HSI agents made six arrests while a multi-agency team continues to investigate.

Before arriving in Philadelphia, the ship had stopped in Chile, Peru, Panama, and the Bahamas.

The cargo was destined for stops in Africa, Europe, Asia, and Haiti.