During the first month of Fiscal Year 2025, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents along the southwest border conducted 90 seizures involving weapons, a figure similar to that of September, when 94 such seizures were made.
CBP agents working at Office of Field Operations have stayed relatively busy since September, averaging more than 90 seizures in consecutive months for the first time since April-May of this year.
And according to a recent report from the agency, the trend continued in late November after officers seized more than two dozen guns from a bus that was heading into Mexico. A photo provided by CBP showed the seized handguns..
The suspicious vehicle was selected for inspection, which included utilizing the customary non-intrusive inspection (NII) equipment as well as a screening by a canine team. Further physical inspection of the bus resulted in officers extracting the weapons and magazines that were concealed inside.
"Our CBP officers continue to maintain strict vigilance in both the inbound and outbound environments. Their inspections experience, attention to detail and technology all contributed to this significant outbound weapons seizure," Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry Director Carlos Rodriguez said.
After the weapons were confiscated, Homeland Security Investigations special agents initiated a criminal investigation into the seizure.
Busy weeks for officers in Hidalgo, Texas
Earlier in November, officers at the Hidalgo International Bridge, one of the ports of entry that connects the cities of McAllen and Reynosa, made three separate seizures involving drugs, weapons and ammunition worth more than $1.4 million.
Officers found four handguns, 1,070 rounds of ammunition, six magazines and 21 weapon components that were also being sent to the country.
And just a couple of days later, CBP officers conducting another vehicle inspection found a total of 30 packages of alleged cocaine concealed within the vehicle and arrested the driver.
According to officers, the cocaine intercepted weighted a little over 77 pounds and had an estimated street value of $1,032,614.
What happens to all the weapons seized by CBP?
According to the agency, the weapons and ammunition that are found to be illegal by border agents are forfeited. Once this occurs, the title on the weapons is transferred to the government and they are later destroyed, usually by melting them, a CBP spokesperson said.
The melting duties are conducted by independent contractors but are overseen in its entirety by a CBP team, the agency told NewsNation in May.
Last year, agents intercepted more than 3,300 guns and over 547,000 gun parts and ammunition before they crossed the border.
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