Posted on 11/20/2007 5:21:01 AM PST by Terabitten
Calexico, Calif. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Calexico, Calif. east commercial facility detained a Mexican truck driver after they discovered 8.85 tons of marijuana commingled with a shipment of television screens at the port Friday afternoon, Port Director Billy Whitford said today.
The 25-year-old driver, a resident of Mexicali, was registered in the Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program and was driving a 1992 GMC tractor-trailer with a shipment manifested as flat screen televisions.
As the truck waited in line to enter the U.S. through the FAST lane at about 4:20 p.m., CBP canine officers conducted a pre-primary operation when a narcotic detector dog alerted to the shipment.
Inspection of the truck through a non-intrusive gamma-ray system later revealed images with anomalies within the shipment. Upon opening the doors, several large packages fell out of the trailer.
Regarded as the largest marijuana load ever for the Calexico port of entry, officers discovered 1,019 large packages of marijuana for a total of 17,701.07 pounds, valued at about $67,264,000.
The tractor-trailer and marijuana were seized by CBP and the driver was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and booked into Imperial County jail to await arraignment. ICE investigation is continuing.
FAST is a Border Accord Initiative between the United States, Mexico and Canada designed to ensure security and safety of trans-border commercial shipments, while enhancing economic prosperity of both countries.
Eligibility for the FAST program requires participants (carrier, drivers, importers, and southern border manufacturers) to submit an application, agreement and security profile. The FAST program allows known low risk commercial shipments to receive expedited border processing at cargo ports of entry.
"This significant seizure demonstrates our commitment to keeping America safe, not only from terrorists and their weapons, but safe from narcotics and the damage they create," Whitford said.
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 the 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.
It certainly kept this batch of drugs out, didn’t it?
First gas prices are up, and now this...
/s
That’s about 60 acres worth of a bumper crop.
Good thing this was one of the "low risk" shippers. This was the official Mexican Government drug trafficking cartel and the proof of that will be the lack of arrests or any sort of real investigation of this incident, especially south of the border. The truck driver, who is probably innocent anyway, will be released in a month or two ( or however long it takes Americans to forget the incident ) and it will be like it never happened. They might even send the drugs back to the Mexican Government to be repackaged and sent on another northbound shipment; Mexico will need that material as "evidence" for their sham investigation.
Is there any wonder that they got this program rolling at the same time they stepped up border patrol presence and fence building? Gotta keep the narcotics flowing.
tried your link. Got a 404 message.
It is a sign of mental illness to keep doing what were doing and think we're going to get a different result. And wasting my tax money in the meantime.
It’s not worth our time arguing with the idiots that permeate these threads!
I agree.
They generally break into one of two groups: Guys who got busted buying pot in a police sting, or guys who wish they were LEOs but couldn't cut it.
I can guarantee you that the drugs will be destroyed. The bulk of it has most likely already been destroyed.
The official number was 8.85 tons. That's 17,700 pounds of marijuana. At a half-gram of marijuana in a typical joint, and 453 grams in a pound, that makes 16,036,200 joints that aren't on the street. Sixteen million.
Thought of another way, that's a year's supply of marijuana for 43,934 people who smoke one joint a day, every day.
True.
I supposed if we can't stop every single gram of pot from coming in, we should just pack it in and go home.
Agreed!
Thank god these guys aren't in charge of the military, they would have cut and run long ago!
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