Not cool: Cucumber truck had $5M worth of meth

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — Smugglers used a shipment of cucumbers and bell peppers to smuggle a load of meth into South Texas from Mexico.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the drugs were discovered inside a tractor-trailer on Sunday at the Pharr International Bridge in Pharr, Texas.

A truck that was supposed to be carrying only fruit underwent a secondary inspection that included an X-ray scan and drug-sniffing dogs.

In the trailer, border officers found 360 packages containing 578 pounds of methamphetamine, which had a street value of $5,163,496, CBP said.

CBP officials called it a “significant methamphetamine seizure.”

“Our frontline CBP officers continue to deploy a strategic combination of inspections experience coupled with technology,” Laredo Port Director Carlos Rodriguez said. “These types of seizures illustrate CBP’s efforts to protect our communities from the spread of hard narcotics.”

CBP seized the narcotics while Homeland Security Investigations special agents initiated a criminal investigation.

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