EL PASO, Texas -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations officers working at the El Paso port of entry seized 2.5 pounds of Ecstasy Wednesday. CBP officers discovered a bundle of pills strapped to the body of a man entering the U.S. from Mexico.
“CBP officers are hard at work processing legitimate trade and travel while screening all arriving traffic for a wide variety of violations,” said Beverly Good, CBP El Paso Port Director. “Their vigilance and attention to detail resulted in this seizure.”
The seizure was made just after 4 p.m. Wednesday when a 21-year-old U.S. citizen male arrived as a pedestrian at the Bridge of the Americas. A CBP drug sniffing dog alerted to a pedestrian as he waited in the line to be inspected. CBP officers queried the subject’s entry documents and received notification that the person was wanted on an active warrant. CBP officers noted a bulge in the upper groin area of the border crosser. An inspection confirmed the presence of a package concealed under the man’s clothing. The package was removed and found to contain 375 blue tablets which tested positive for Ecstasy.
CBP officers took the subject into custody. He was turned over to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office to face charges associated with the smuggling attempt.
While anti-terrorism is the primary mission of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the inspection process at the ports of entry associated with this mission results in impressive numbers of enforcement actions in all categories.