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US border officials announce largest-ever fentanyl seizure


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U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in Arizona announced Thursday, Jan. 31, their largest-ever seizure of fentanyl - 254 pounds of powder and pills hidden in a truck hauling cucumbers.
 
 
The load was enough for more than 100 million lethal doses of the drug, a synthetic opioid that has fueled an epidemic of U.S. overdose deaths. In addition to the fentanyl, which was concealed in a secret floor compartment of the trailer, officers also uncovered 395 pounds of methamphetamine, CBP officials said.
 
Michael Humphries, director of the Nogales port of entry, told reporters that the drugs were detected Saturday, Jan. 26, after scanning equipment alerted officers to the presence of "anomalies" in the cargo that did not resemble any vegetable.
 
A CBP canine team searched the truck, and officers opened the false floor compartment to find 400 packages of narcotics - an estimated $3.5 million worth of fentanyl and $1.1 million worth of methamphetamine.
 
"This represents the largest fentanyl seizure in CBP history," said Humphries, standing beside armed CBP officers and a table stacked with dope.
 
The fentanyl, which is 50 times more potent than heroin, had been placed in hard plastic containers, apparently to avoid any potential exposure to CBP officers. The drug is considered so deadly that officers no longer cut open the suspected drug packets they seize at the border, aware that even a few salt-sized grains of the drug can be harmful.
 
"One kilogram of fentanyl produces 1 million fatal doses," said Juan Mariscal, the assistant special agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's investigative unit in Nogales, who described the bust as part of a wider investigation.
 
The driver of the cucumber truck, a 26-year-old Mexican national who officials did not identify, will face federal drug trafficking charges, Mariscal said. No other arrests have been made, he said.
 
More than 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2017, a record, according the latest available figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
 
President Donald Trump has insisted his proposal for a border wall will reduce such deaths and stem drug trafficking, but CBP data indicate the vast majority of fentanyl, methamphetamine and other hard drugs are seized from vehicles attempting to drive through official ports of entry.
 
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President Donald Trump has insisted his proposal for a border wall will reduce such deaths and stem drug trafficking, but CBP data indicate the vast majority of fentanyl, methamphetamine and other hard drugs are seized from vehicles attempting to drive through official ports of entry.

 

No ****, the stuff that goes across the border does not get seized/detected.  Bunch of geniuses writing this ****.

 

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2 hours ago, RenoF250 said:

President Donald Trump has insisted his proposal for a border wall will reduce such deaths and stem drug trafficking, but CBP data indicate the vast majority of fentanyl, methamphetamine and other hard drugs are seized from vehicles attempting to drive through official ports of entry.

 

No ****, the stuff that goes across the border does not get seized/detected.  Bunch of geniuses writing this ****.

 

When I worked the border 07-08, it was generally because you could haul more, quicker, and with less chance of detection with a vehicle. 

 

We primarily interdicted people on foot, and only a few times caught anyone with any real amounts of hard drugs. 

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I am glad they took necessary precautions, as direct contact can be fatal.  We used to use our knives to take samples to put in a reagent.  A hard headed old USBP older guy I know, who was always into something, caught some cocaine and didn't take into account, unlike weed it was vacuum packed.  He stabbed it, hard, and got a face full, and had to be transported the hospital and restrained to the hospital bed while he freaked out.

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