CBP seizes $5M in drugs

Officers at Rio Grande Valley international bridges seized almost $5 million worth of cocaine and marijuana last week in five separate stops, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Wednesday.

Three of the incidents occurred at the B&M International Bridge in Brownsville. In Pharr, more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana were found hidden in a tractor-trailer.

“I commend our officers for the outstanding job they did stopping narcotics from coming into our country,” Michael Freeman, CBP port director in Brownsville, Michael Freeman said.

Officers stopped a 22-year-old Brownsville man at the B&M International Bridge Feb. 1 and discovered about 30 pounds of cocaine wrapped in 12 packages concealed in his Jeep Liberty, CBP spokesman Eddie Perez said.

On Friday, officers at the same bridge sent the vehicle of a 22-year-old Los Fresnos man to secondary inspection and found almost 20 pounds of cocaine, Perez said.

Officers seized about 58 pounds of marijuana during another stop at the B&M Bridge on Saturday when they were searching the vehicle of a 21-year-old Mexican citizen crossing into Brownsville.

At the Pharr port of entry, CBP officers seized about 41 pounds of cocaine Feb. 1 after stopping the vehicle of a 21-year-old man from Mexico.

In a stop on Feb. 3, also at Pharr, officers seized more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana from the refrigerated trailer of a truck stopped at the CBP cargo facility. The load was contained in 349 concealed packages, Perez said.

The cases were turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for further investigation.