Seeds of Doubt Lead to CBP Drug Seizure at Nogales Port

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Mariposa Commercial Facility in Nogales, Arizona, seized $1.2 million in marijuana – more than 2,400 pounds – from a Mexican national last week when he attempted to enter the United States.

Officers working with a CBP narcotics-detection canine discovered the drugs co-mingled within bins of watermelons in a tractor-trailer driven by a 46-year-old man from Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.

Officers seized the entire shipment and referred the subject to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations.

Wednesday’s seizure is the second significant load of marijuana intercepted this month at the Mariposa facility. Last Tuesday, officers seized 6,500 pounds of marijuana found in a shipment of strawberry jam and, earlier in December, seized 10,000 pounds of marijuana.