see also: in January 2009:   CBP Officers Discover 957 Pounds of Marijuana in Concrete Pipes   CBP Canine Detects $600,000 Worth of Marijuana at Douglas Port   CBP Officers Seize $80,000 of Marijuana at Naco Port of Entry   Border Patrol Stops Vehicle, Leads to Meth Seizure   CBP Officers at Hidalgo/Reynosa International Bridge Seize Fake $20’s Found during Outbound Inspection   Border Patrol Agents Rescue Woman Injured in Car Accident   U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers Arrest Wanted Sex Offender ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

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Laredo, Texas - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Laredo, Texas port of entry this week discovered a shipment of pasta seasoned with three quarters of a ton of a green leafy substance, and it wasn’t oregano. It was $1.5 million worth of marijuana.

The seizure occurred shortly after 6:50 a.m. Tuesday at World Trade Bridge. A CBP field operations officer referred a 1993 Freightliner tractor hauling a 2006 utility trailer laden with a shipment of enriched pasta for secondary inspection. A scan indicated anomalies within the front part of the trailer causing officers to conduct an intensive examination of the tractor trailer that led to the discovery of black cellophane-wrapped bundles toward the front of trailer and behind the pallets of pasta.

Canine “Cali” alerted to the odor of narcotics emanating from the bundles. Within the 55 bundles, CBP officers discovered a total of 1,574 pounds of marijuana. The marijuana has an estimated street value of $1.5 million.

Officers arrested the driver, Jaime Del Rivero Ibanez, 28, a Mexican citizen from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico and turned him over to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents who investigated the seizure and processed Del Rivero Ibanez on federal drug charges.

“Our frontline CBP field operations officers utilized an effective combination of targeting, high tech tools, canines and good inspection work to detect and take down this significant load of marijuana,” said Gene Garza, CBP port director, Laredo.

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.