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US-CRIME-DRUGS
Hot cargo: US Customs seize 4 tons of marijuana hidden among peppers
LOS ANGELES, Aug 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – US Customs officers have seized
nearly four tons of marijuana worth $2.3 million hidden in a consignment of
jalapeno peppers.
A sniffer dog alerted officers to a trailer with a shipment of peppers in
San Diego on the border with Mexico on Thursday, Customs and Border
Protection said.
The CBP statement said “a 37-year-old male Mexican citizen entered the port
of entry driving a tractor pulling a trailer with cargo manifested as
jalapeno peppers.”
Officers at Otay Mesa cargo facility found 314 packages of marijuana
weighing 7,560 pounds (3.4 tonnes) mixed among the jalapeno peppers.
“I am proud of the officers for seizing this significant marijuana load,”
said Otay Mesa Port director Rosa Hernandez.
It was the second large haul of marijuana at the facility in days.
Officers seized 10,642 pounds of the drug in a shipment of plastic auto
parts at Otay Mesa on Tuesday.
CBP has seized 113 tons (103 tonnes) of marijuana so far this year, along
with 41 tons of cocaine and 27 tons of methamphetamine.
In July authorities seized nearly 20 tons of cocaine with an estimated
street value of more than $1 billion from a ship at the port of Philadelphia
in one of the largest drug busts in US history.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1435 hrs