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  4. More Than 3,400 pounds of Marijuana Seized at Santa Teresa Port

More Than 3,400 pounds of Marijuana Seized at Santa Teresa Port

Release Date
Wed, 07/08/2015

SANTA TERESA, N.M. -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations officers working at the Santa Teresa port of entry seized 3,423 pounds of marijuana July 1. The estimated street value of the seized contraband is $2,738,400.

Drugs in floor of trailer

Drugs in floor of trailer

“This empty trailer proved to be very much loaded,” said Ray Provencio, CBP Santa Teresa port director. “The tools and technology CBP uses stopped this sizeable shipment.”

The seizure was made just after 10:00 a.m. July 1 when a commercial tractor hauling an empty flatbed trailer entered the port from Mexico. A CBP officer at the primary inspection station selected the rig for an X-ray scan which revealed a dense floor area. CBP drug sniffing dog “Roma” search the truck and alerted to the floor of the trailer. CBP officers drilled into the floor and discovered a green substance which tested positive for marijuana. CBP officers removed 687 marijuana-filled bundles from the trailer bed.

CBP officers arrested the driver, 46-year-old Javier Armando Barraza Hernandez of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. He was turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement HSI agents to face charges associated with the failed smuggling attempt.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

Last Modified: Feb 03, 2021