BALTIMORE — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations (OFO) at the Port of Baltimore discovered 147 pounds of cocaine August 4 in a shipping container from Brazil.
This is CBP’s largest cocaine seizure in Baltimore since April 2007 when CBP officers discovered 310 pounds of cocaine in three gym bags inside a refrigerated shipping container from Ecuador. In December 2013 CBP officers made another significant seizure when they discovered 128 pounds of cocaine concealed in two duffle bags inside a container that arrived from Panama.
CBP officers conducted a routine inspection of the container using non-intrusive imaging technologies when they detected anomalies in a commercial shipment of lumber. After opening the container, CBP officers discovered that the anomalies were two gym bags that contained a combined 57 bricks of a white-powdery substance that field-tested positive for cocaine.
CBP officers seized the cocaine, which weighed a combined 66.85 kilograms, or a little more than 147 pounds, and had an estimated street value of more than $4 million.
“Narcotics interdiction remains a top Customs and Border Protection enforcement priority, and this case illustrates how CBP officers leverage non-intrusive imaging technologies to intercept dangerous drugs and to help keep our communities safe,” said Dianna Bowman, CBP Area Port Director for the Port of Baltimore.
Non-intrusive inspection (NII) technology enables CBP to detect contraband (e.g., narcotics and weapons) and materials that pose potential nuclear and radiological threats. NII technologies enable CBP to screen or examine a larger portion of the stream of commercial traffic while facilitating the flow of legitimate trade, cargo, and passengers. View the NII Fact Sheet to learn more.
CBP conducts inspection operations and intercepts currency, weapons, prohibited agriculture products and other illicit items. For more on OFO’s border security mission at U.S. Ports of Entry please visit Border Security.