U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) exclusively told The Epoch Times on Friday that its officers at the Laredo sector of the U.S.–Mexico border intercepted more than $72.3 million worth of methamphetamine from separate encounters in the same day.
The two large-scale enforcement actions occurred on June 19, the agency said, becoming the latest encounter that adds to a historic amount of illegal narcotics seized at the border and throughout the country this fiscal year by CBP.
At the World Trade Bridge entry point in Laredo, Texas, an agent referred a Dodge Ram stake-bed truck for a secondary inspection. According to CBP, the vehicle’s shipment was labeled as carrying polypropylene, or a commonly used compound for manufacturing plastic products.
A further inspection revealed nearly 7,050 pounds of methamphetamine with a street value of more than $63 million.
The second seizure on the same day occurred at the Pharr International Bridge cargo facility.
CBP officers referred a tractor-trailer from Reynosa, Mexico, for another inspection and discovered anomalies within the shipment. A physical search of the trailer revealed 193 packages of methamphetamine, weighing more than a thousand pounds.
This seizure had an estimated street value of $9.3 million, CBP said.
“These large-scale cargo methamphetamine seizures, both taken the same day at different ports of entry within the Laredo Field Office, underscore the serious drug threat our officers are facing as well as their resolve to stem the flow of this poison into the U.S.,” said Director of Field Operations Donald Kusser of the Laredo Field Office. “Our frontline officers remain committed to carrying out our border security mission, as exemplified by these significant enforcement actions.”
CBP seized the narcotics and vehicles from both encounters, and Homeland Security Investigations is leading the investigations.
Seizures of all drug types, including marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, fentanyl, heroin, khat, ketamine, ecstasy, LSD, and others, this fiscal year, which runs from October to September, are on pace to surpass years prior for CBP.
As of the latest data available, the agency has seized 583,000 pounds of illegal narcotics through the first eight months of fiscal year 2026. In all of the prior year, CBP seized about two hundred pounds less than that amount.
Compared to fiscal years 2024 and 2023, there were 573,000 and 549,000 pounds seized, respectively.
Illegal crossings are also at historic lows.
CBP officials have said these record numbers are due to stricter border enforcement under President Donald Trump.
San Diego Sector’s Chief Patrol Agent Justin De La Torre told The Epoch Times that every instance of illegal cross-border activity, whether it’s human smuggling or drugs, is “money going into the hands of the cartels.”
“Those are the same cartels that are smuggling drugs, fentanyl, cocaine, meth into the U.S., poisoning our communities, our youth, and just really wreaking havoc throughout the country,” De La Torre said. “Those are the same cartels that destabilize governments in Mexico.”
