U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have made the largest fentanyl seizure in CBP history, confiscating approximately 4 million blue fentanyl pills weighing over 1,000 pounds.
CBP Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Commissioner Troy Miller, emphasized the significance of this seizure in Arizona by U.S. Customs and Border Protection:
"This is the largest fentanyl seizure in CBP's history, and reflects our unwavering determination to protect our nation and to disrupt the criminal activities of ruthless drug cartels. Every day, CBP officers and agents are on our front line, using their keen instincts and the latest technology to prevent deadly drugs from entering our country and poisoning our communities."
On July 1, a 20-year-old Arizona man driving a pick-up truck hauling a sport recreational vehicle on a utility trailer was referred for an intensive inspection at the Port of Lukeville. During the inspection, officers noticed irregularities in the trailer frame. Aided by a CBP canine team, they discovered 234 packages containing the fentanyl pills.
On July 12 officers at the same port seized approximately 270 pounds of methamphetamine, as a 45-year-old Mexican citizen driving a 2007 Ford F-150 pick-up truck towing a utility trailer was subjected to a thorough inspection using non-intrusive inspection (NII) technology and a CBP canine team.
The combined estimated street value of these seizures exceeds $12.6 million.
Federal law allows officers to charge individuals by complaint, which enables the filing of charges for criminal activity without inferring guilt. Individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
"This is an enormous amount of dangerous drugs that officers at the Port of Lukeville prevented from reaching communities throughout the United States," Guadalupe Ramirez, director of field operations at the Tucson Field Office, added through the aforementioned statement.
Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned leaders of the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) for producing and trafficking illicit fentanyl into the U.S. The action was coordinated with the Government of Mexico, including its financial intelligence unit, La Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera (UIF), as well as several U.S. government partners.
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