PHILADELPHIA – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers are charged with facilitating the importation of lawful products and sometimes encounter illicit products, such as a parcel of heroin that CBP officers seized in Philadelphia on Sunday.
inside a parcel destined for St. Petersburg, Fla.
While inspecting air cargo from the Netherlands, CBP officers examined a parcel destined to an address in St. Petersburg, Fla. The parcel, manifested as “document” contained a brown powdery substance that field-tested positive for heroin.
The heroin weighed about 29 grams, or a little more than one ounce, and had a street value of about $2,000.
“Customs and Border Protection officers exercise extraordinary vigilance while examining thousands of international parcels every day to search for that proverbial needle in the haystack illicit narcotics shipment,” said Casey Durst, Director of Field Operations for CBP’s Baltimore Field Office. “Narcotics interdiction remains a primary CBP border enforcement mission and it’s one way in which we help protect our nation’s citizens from things that could cause us harm.”
CBP seized an average of 3,707 pounds of dangerous drugs every day across the United States last year. Learn more about what CBP accomplished during “A Typical Day” in 2019.
CBP's border security mission is led at ports of entry by CBP officers from the Office of Field Operations. CBP officers screen international travelers and cargo and search for illicit narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, counterfeit consumer goods, prohibited agriculture, and other illicit products that could potentially harm the American public, U.S. businesses, and our nation’s safety and economic vitality.
Please visit CBP Ports of Entry to learn more about how CBP’s Office of Field Operations secures our nation’s borders.