Drug traffickers are coming up with new and inventive ways to avoid border barriers. At an Arizona border crossing, investigators discovered smugglers concealing 700,000 fentanyl tablets in food cans.
On May 16, during a routine inspection between Nogales, Sonora, and Arizona, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents discovered a cocaine cargo stashed in the trunk of a private vehicle.
Michael W. Humphries, director of Ports in Nogales, provided details about the seizure, emphasizing the intricacy of traffickers’ packaging. The tablets were neatly packaged in clear plastic bags and concealed within vegetable cans, coconut water bottles, juice cartons, and cookie boxes.
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However, the seeming “supermarket purchases” showed small irregularities that aroused suspicion among customs agents. During the examination, one of the inspectors heard a strange sound when shaking one of the cans, revealing a fentanyl trafficking enterprise that was operating beneath the radar of border officials.
5/16: CBP officers at the Nogales POE seized approx. 700,000 fentanyl pills hidden in various food cans and cartons in the trunk of a vehicle. Officers continue to be very diligent in their search for dangerous opioids. Good teamwork! pic.twitter.com/Z2oS1j7ccp
— Port Director Michael W. Humphries (@CBPPortDirNOG) May 23, 2024
Although the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) cartels have been recognized as the primary fentanyl suppliers, police have yet to uncover the particular relationship between this seizure and criminal gangs.
The large fentanyl seizure came after CBP officials successfully prevented an attempt to import 93 pounds of fentanyl into California.
CBP agents in the El Centro sector apprehended a woman on May 14 for smuggling 93 pounds of fentanyl in southern California.
At 10:50 a.m. on Monday, Border Patrol agents in a fully marked vehicle stopped a suspicious blue sedan driven by a female driver and her teenage son. The vehicle was pulled stopped at the Golf Center Parkway off Interstate 10, and a canine officer conducted an open-air sniff of it.
An initial check of the vehicle revealed a single blue pill, which CBP officials identified as fentanyl, and the vehicle was detained and taken to the nearest Border Patrol station for further investigation.
When the car arrived at the CBP station, agents discovered strange tool markings on the bolts holding the seats in place. After removing the seats, the agents discovered six huge bags in a makeshift compartment buried underneath.
The packages included tens of thousands of blue tablets, similar to those seized earlier during the roadside search. The pills tested positive for fentanyl and weighed 93.3 pounds.
“Indio Station Border Patrol agents assigned to the Anti-Smuggling Unit just did what the Border Patrol has done for the past century. “They protected America from bad things and bad people; in this case, a suspected smuggler who endangered a juvenile in his attempt to spread deadly drugs into our communities,” stated El Centro Chief Patrol Agent Gregory K. Bovino in a CBP press release.
“We look forward to teaming up with both the excellent prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, and the equally adept Drug Enforcement Administration, Los Angeles Field Office to provide meaningful consequences to this suspected smuggler,” stated the federal agent.
The driver, who has only been identified as a United States citizen, was caught and turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration, along with the vehicle and fentanyl pills.
Her adolescent kid was released to “an appropriate party,” according to CBP.
The fentanyl seizures are the product of Operation Apollo, a huge counter-fentanyl initiative that began on October 26, 2023, in southern California and Arizona and will end on April 10, 2024.
The operation is directing US government intelligence collection and forming law enforcement partnerships to combat fentanyl smuggling into the United States.