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Twice in the past week, drug-sniffing dogs in Texas busted smugglers trying to gain entry into the United States with narcotics hidden on their body. Both arrests were made by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Ysleta Port of Entry in El Paso.
In the first case, which occurred on March 30, CBP officers officers encountered a 26-year-old male U.S. citizen who arrived at the Ysleta international crossing as a pedestrian coming from Mexico at around 4 a.m. After a brief interview, the primary CBP officer decided to give the man a secondary exam.
During that exam, a CBP drug sniffing dog searched the man and gave a positive alert to the scent of narcotics. A partial pat down exam revealed two packages concealed between the man’s butt cheeks. After testing, it was determined that the packages contained 0.32 pounds of meth. The man was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations special agents on charges of importation of controlled substance.
“The keen observational skills of a CBP officer resulted in this seizure being made,” said CBP Ysleta Port Director Arnie Gomez. “Body carriers are a challenge however our mix of officer expertise, canine support, and tools and technology all assist us in identifying and stopping these types of smuggling attempts.”
CBP
In the second bust, which took place just after 7 p.m. on March 31, Customs and Border Protection officers working at the Ysleta international crossing encountered a 41-year-old male U.S. citizen also trying to gain entry into America from Mexico as a pedestrian.
He too was subjected to secondary exam following a short interview by the primary CBP officer. And once again, a CBP drug sniffing dog searched the man and alerted the officers to the presence of narcotics. Upon further inspection, officers believed the man had drugs concealed inside his anal cavity.
The man would not consent to a medical exam, so a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) task force officer was called and an HSI special agent obtained a search warrant. The man then was forced to have an x-ray taken, which confirmed the presence of a foreign object inside his body.
According to a CBP press release, “CBP officers continued to monitor the man while he was under medical care, and he eventually passed a bundle just before 2 p.m. The contents of the package contained multiple tablets which tested positive for fentanyl. The total weight was 0.31 pounds.”
He was then arrested and turned over to HSI special agents.
“We cannot emphasize strongly enough exactly how dangerous this smuggling method is,” said CBP Ysleta Port Director Gomez. “If the concealment packaging were to rupture the results could be lethal.”