EL PASO, Texas – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers working at the El Paso port of entry made several drug busts Tuesday. Their enforcement efforts netted 120 pounds of marijuana in two busts and 16.5 pounds of cocaine in a third incident.
“CBP officers are hard at work maintaining the free flow of legitimate trade and travel while upholding all our enforcement missions,” said Ray Provencio, acting CBP El Paso port director.
The largest seizure of the day was made just after 6 a.m. at the Ysleta international crossing when a 2005 Dodge Dakota entered the facility from Mexico. CBP officers selected the vehicle for a secondary exam during which a CBP drug sniffing dog alerted to the car. CBP officers scanned the vehicle with the Z-Portal x-ray system and spotted several anomalies. They removed multiple marijuana filled bundles from the doors and fuel tank of the vehicle. The drugs weighed 68 pounds.
CBP officers arrested the driver, a 20-year-old male U.S. citizen. He was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations special agents to face charges associated with the failed drug smuggling attempt.
In addition to the three drug seizures CBP officers working at the El Paso port of entry also apprehended one NCIC fugitive and made one agricultural seizure Tuesday.