Over at the Colombia-Solidarity Bridge, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers had quite the haul last week. A tractor-trailer, supposedly carrying decorative plaster vases, turned out to be a front for smuggling an enormous quantity of methamphetamine. Thanks to the diligent efforts of the CBP officers, more than $16 million worth of drugs are now off the streets and won't be making it to any neighborhood parties anytime soon.
According to a press release by the CBP, the bust went down on Nov. 5 when an officer decided to refer the suspicious truck for a more thorough check. And, as it turned out, the decision to quickly follow up with not just a canine sweep but also a nonintrusive inspection paid off. And paid off big—hidden within those phony vases were 1,792.79 pounds of what's alleged to be meth. That's a street value of—hold onto your hats—$16,026,546.
The man responsible for overseeing the nitty-gritty of operations at this border crossing, Port Director Alberto Flores, seemed proud of his team's latest interdiction. "Seizures like these reflect the seriousness of the drug threat we face on a daily basis," he told the CBP's newsroom. Flores's remarks touched on the dedication of officers facing the often invisible war on drugs, with the intent to disrupt smuggling operations before their poisonous cargo can ever reach our communities.
