Customs and Border Protection officers, alongside the Office of Field Operations, seized a record-setting $11.8 million worth of cocaine concealed in a shipment of baby wipes crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
Per a press release from the CBP, the drugs were seized at the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge on Friday, August 26. Sitting at the U.S.-Mexico border between the Mexican state of Nuevo León and Laredo in Texas, the seizure was made during a second inspection of a tractor-trailer that was said to be baby wipes. Drug-sniffing dogs, however, discovered around 1,935 packages of cocaine with a street value of approximately $11.8 million.
“Officers assigned to CBP cargo facilities ensure effective border security by preventing and countering the flow of suspected narcotics entering the country,” said Port Director Alberto Flores, Laredo Port of Entry. “This seizure is a prime example of border security management and how it helps prevent dangerous narcotics from reaching our communities.”
CBP field operations director Randy Howe called the huge drug bust a “colossal, recording setting seizure” and the “largest cocaine bust in 20 years.”
The packages consisted of nearly 1,533 pounds of cocaine, according to CBP officers. Authorities are investigating the shipment, with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations leading the case.
