$1 million worth of marijuana seized at El Paso port of entry

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized 1,265 pounds of marijuana Tuesday at an El Paso port of entry.

The drugs have an estimated street value of just over $1 million.

“Because of the complexity of the drug concealment it took CBP more than 12 hours to open and remove the drugs from specially built compartments,” said CBP El Paso Port Director Beverly Good. “Smugglers spared no expense and went to great lengths to conceal this drug load.”

At about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, a 1994 Peterbilt tractor towing a flatbed trailer entered the Bridge of the Americas commercial cargo lot from Mexico. The flatbed trailer was transporting six reels of wound cable.

The vehicle was selected for an x-ray exam and CBP officers said the vehicle and commodity were scanned showing dense areas within the spools. CBP drug sniffing dog “Bianca” searched the shipment and alerted to the large spools.

CBP officers removed the cable from a spool and found a specially built non-factory metal compartment under the cable. CBP officers drilled into the compartment and retrieved a green substance which tested positive for marijuana.

CBP officers removed the cable from all the spools. Each of the six spools was modified to include a metal compartment. High powered tools were used to cut open the metal compartments. CBP officers recovered a total of 641 marijuana-filled bundles from the compartments.

The truck and trailer were seized. No arrest was made. The investigation continues.