PHILADELPHIA – Londoners sure aren’t thankful today after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized a combined 179 more pounds of United Kingdom-bound marijuana before Thanksgiving at an international shipping service facility in Delaware County, Pa.
While inspecting export parcels on November 13, CBP officers discovered marijuana in 24 parcels that weighed a combined 46 kilograms, or 101 pounds and six ounces, and on November 19, CBP officers discovered another 28 marijuana-stuffed parcels that weighed a combined 35.4 kilograms, or about 78 pounds and one ounce. The parcels were all being shipped from multiple addresses in California to multiple addresses in the U.K.
These seizures collectively weighed 81.4 kilograms, or about 179 pounds and seven ounces. The weed has a street value of about $780,000 in the United States. Depending on potency, these parcels could have fetched two to three times more in London.
These seizures continued a busy month for CBP officers who also bagged a combined 343 pounds of marijuana and a combined 170 pounds of marijuana in export parcels during the first two weeks of November that were also destined to the U.K.
Additionally, CBP officers seized 114 pounds of marijuana in the baggage of two women attempting to fly to London on October 22. Local authorities arrested the two women on felony narcotics possession charges.
“These seizures should send a message that exporting marijuana, or any other illicit commodity, is both an illegal endeavor and poses a significant risk of failure,” said Cleatus Hunt, CBP’s Area Port Director for the Area Port of Philadelphia. “Despite their failures, nefarious organizations continue to test Customs and Border Protection officers’ expertise in hunting their illicit shipments because smugglers are driven by greed. Our message remains the same, if you keep sending it, we’ll keep seizing it.”
Federal law prohibits transporting marijuana across state lines or exporting it from the United States. However, CBP is observing a continuing trend of United States-based growers, retailers, and criminal organizations shipping or transporting marijuana to Europe and Africa where high-quality weed can fetch prices many times higher than in the U.S.
Every day, CBP officers and agents seized an average of 2,339 pounds of dangerous drugs last year at and between our nation’s air, sea, and land ports of entry. See CBP’s enforcement stats to see what other dangerous drugs CBP is encountering at our nation’s borders.
CBP's border security mission is led at our nation’s Ports of Entry by CBP officers and agriculture specialists from the Office of Field Operations. CBP screens international travelers and cargo and searches for illicit narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, counterfeit consumer goods, prohibited agriculture, invasive weeds and pests, and other illicit products that could potentially harm the American public, U.S. businesses, and our nation’s safety and economic vitality.
See what CBP accomplished during "A Typical Day" in 2023. Learn more at www.CBP.gov.
Follow the Director of CBP’s Baltimore Field Office on Twitter at @DFOBaltimore for breaking news, current events, human interest stories and photos, and CBP’s Office of Field Operations on Instagram at @cbpfieldops.