By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-09-02 09:16:52 | Updated at 2026-09-02 10:36:37
1 hour ago
Border agents in Laredo, Texas, intercepted nearly $3 million worth of cocaine over the span of a few days from separate tractor-trailers, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) exclusively told The Epoch Times on Tuesday.
The seizures occurred on Aug. 21 and Aug. 24 at separate crossings into the United States, totaling more than 220 pounds of cocaine and adding to an increasing, historic amount of illegal drugs caught by CBP officers at the southwest border and across the country.
“These significant cocaine seizures underscore the vigilance and enforcement focus of our frontline CBP officers at the Laredo Port of Entry,” Laredo Port Director Alberto Flores said.
“We remain committed to disrupting smuggling attempts and enforcing our nation’s laws at the border.”
Flores credited agent experience, sophisticated technology, and K9 enforcement for the significant seizures before they could disappear into the country and “reach our communities.”
In the first seizure at the Colombia Solidarity Bridge, a CBP officer referred a 2011 Volvo tractor-trailer for further inspection by K9s and non-intrusive technology, which could have included X-rays or density readers.
A physical inspection of the big rig uncovered 80.68 pounds of cocaine, according to the agency, with a street value of more than $1 million.
Days later and roughly 20 miles away at the World Trade Bridge, another CBP agent referred a 2007 T3 Freightliner tractor for a secondary inspection.
The shipment was manifested as car parts, CBP said, but officers discovered 141.53 pounds of cocaine within the trailer. That amount has a street value of about $1.9 million.
CBP seized the narcotics, and Homeland Security Investigations agents launched an investigation into the encounters.
Photos of the seizures show numerous neatly wrapped and taped rectangular packages.
Border agents seized nearly $3 million worth of cocaine at the border. Officers intercepted the illegal narcotics on Aug. 21 and Aug. 24, 2026, in Laredo, Texas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Often, border agents can determine what kind of illicit narcotics may be contained within a package solely based on its shape, CBP officials have told The Epoch Times.
Rigid, squarish packages, such as those seized in Laredo, typically signal to agents that cocaine or fentanyl powder is concealed inside, San Ysidro Port Director Mariza Marin explained during an exclusive tour of her facilities with The Epoch Times.
A “fluffy, pillow-looking” package would likely be meth due to the rocky, crystalline structure that doesn’t allow it to perfectly fit together, Marin said.
Lately, border agents have been encountering an increasing number of hidden packages of narcotics in the dashboards of vehicles, Marin said, as the cartels attempt to adapt to improving X-ray technology at ports of entry.
“[Cartels] know that this [X-ray] will go through the doors, floor panels, so they hide it where there’s other instruments that are dense where we can’t see the image quite as quickly,” the port director said.
When this technology was first introduced at the border about 15 years ago, the cartels began scheming how to beat it, according to Marin, by mimicking the systems themselves or sending individuals across with concealed packages of dog food or sand to see if the X-rays would catch it.
“[The cartels] are gambling, hoping that they don’t come into secondary [inspection],” Marin said. “If K9s are out there, my roving teams are out there, computer systems and AI are all firing—the intelligent system is firing the way it should—hopefully we’re catching a lot of this stuff.”
But when there are tens of thousands of vehicles crossing every day into the United States, criminal organizations are gambling something could get through, Marin added, which she said she believes is happening much less frequently than in past years.
CBP data on drug seizure totals backs up her belief.
In fiscal year 2026, which runs from October to September, the agency has seized 697,000 pounds of illegal narcotics.
That amount is more than 100,000 pounds more than previous years, and there’s still room to increase that difference in August and September.
In fiscal years 2025, 2024, and 2023, CBP’s drug seizure totals were 583,000 pounds, 573,000 pounds, and 549,000 pounds, respectively.
