Feb. 7 (UPI) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection said officers seized more than $5 million worth of cocaine at the World Trade International Bridge connecting Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
The drug seizure occurred in one security operation on Jan. 30, when a CBP officer ordered a tractor trailer to undergo a second inspection. CBP said that upon review, officers found 280 packages carrying 733 pounds of cocaine, which has a street value of $5.6 million.
After seizing the drugs, CBP handed over the investigation to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations special agents.
“Our CBP officers’ knowledge of concealment methods and the technology they utilized on a daily basis played a key role in the discovery of these hard narcotics,” Laredo Port of Entry Director Gregory Alvarez said in a statement released Thursday.