CBP officers in El Paso area ports make cocaine and marijuana busts over the weekend with a value of $4,117,877

El Paso, Texas – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers working at El Paso area ports of entry recorded a wide variety of enforcement actions during a busy weekend. CBP officers made numerous fugitive apprehensions, stopped drug smuggling attempts, uncovered immigrations violations, and located prohibited agriculture items while inspecting inbound and outbound traffic at area border crossings.

“These are outstanding seizures and arrests. Our frontline officers must remain vigilant and focused despite long lines and sometimes bad weather,” said Ana Hinojosa, CBP director of Field Operations in El Paso. “CBP employees take pride in knowing they are doing their part to keep the communities where they work and live as safe as possible.”

CBP officers working at area ports made a total of three fugitive apprehensions during the three-day period.

CBP officers working at area ports of entry seized 26.84 pounds of cocaine with a value of $858,880 and 1,404.74 pounds of marijuana with a value of $3,258,997 in 12 incidents. The cocaine seizure was made on Saturday afternoon at the Paso Del Norte International crossing at the El Paso port of entry. CBP officers discovered 12 cocaine-filled bundles in the dashboard of a 1997 Eagle Vision TSI that entered the port from Mexico.

CBP officers arrested 33-year- old Oscar Reyes of Juarez. He was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations special agents to face federal drug smuggling charges and booked into the El Paso County Jail where he is being held without bond.

During the previous three days area CBP officers uncovered 39 immigration violations. Intended immigrants made up a large group of the violators. A total of 16 were identified through thorough document exams. In these cases individuals used legally issued border-crossing cards (laser visas) to live or work in the U.S., which is not authorized. Violators generally lose their documents and are returned to Mexico.

CBP officers this weekend also identified 11 impostors while performing inspections at area ports. Impostors generally use legitimate entry documents assigned to another person and present it as their own. CBP officers also recorded 12 cases of people making false claims to U.S. citizenship, people attempting to enter with counterfeit or altered documents, and stopping those who previously entered the country illegally. Most of these people will be prosecuted and go to jail.

CBP agriculture specialists working at area ports made five seizures of prohibited food and agricultural items this weekend, resulting in $800 in fines being assessed. Prohibited items seized this weekend included pork blood (morcilla), pork rinds, pork chorizo, avocados, turkey and raw chicken.

While anti-terrorism is the primary mission of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the inspection process at the ports of entry associated with this mission results in impressive numbers of enforcement actions in all categories.

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 our 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.

This article was sponsored by Police Books.