By Phil Helsel—
NBC News
Border patrol officers found methamphetamine, valued at $400,000, hidden inside pumpkins in Texas on the US-Mexico border on Tuesday, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The discovery was made at the Eagle Pass port of entry, off Piedras Negras, when an SUV from Mexico was referred for further inspection, the agency said in a statement.
CBP agents found nearly 44 pounds of liquid methamphetamine inside pumpkins in Texas.CBP
CBP detailed that there were
136 condoms filled with 44 pounds of liquid methamphetamine
, hidden inside four pumpkins.
A photo released by the agency appeared to show the items packed in a hollow pumpkin, a hallmark of Halloween.
The driver and passenger were detained, the agency added.
[Fentanyl is already the drug of choice for opioid users]
On Oct. 2, agents found 36 pounds of methamphetamine — with an estimated street value of $328,000 — in a vehicle at the same port of entry, according to the agency.
The DEA seizes nearly 10 million fentanyl pills and 1,000 pounds of fentanyl powder
Sept.
28, 202200:20
In September, at the Del Rio port of entry, which is also on the Texas border, the agency said $11.9 million worth of methamphetamine was found in a trailer.
[Biden to sign executive order to pardon people federally convicted of marijuana possession]
Most methamphetamine in the United States is manufactured in Mexico by criminal organizations and smuggled across the southwestern border, the Drug Enforcement Administration said in a 2020 assessment released last year.
"She was cheated on," says the mother of a teenager who died after consuming a drug with fentanyl
Sept.
16, 202201:53
Based on police seizures of labs, landfills, or equipment, there used to be many more methamphetamine labs in the United States;
seizures peaked in 2004 but have dropped sharply since then, according to the report.
In 2004 there were 23,703 "laboratory incidents" in the United States, but in 2019 there were 890, according to the report.
