see also: in June 2002:   West Texas/New Mexico Customs Officers Seize 5,279 Pounds of Marijuana This Week   Arizona Customs Officers Seize 3,246 Pounds of Marijuana This Week   World Customs Organization Adopts Elements of U.S. Customs Container Security Initiative to Protect, Enhance Global Trade   Le Havre Seaport Joins U.S. Customs Container Security Initiative Against Terrorism   U.S. Customs Cracks Money Laundering Ring That Moved Half A Billion Dollars in Eight Months   U.S. Customs Names New Chief of Staff   Seaport of Antwerp Joins U.S. Customs Container Security Initiative Against Terrorism ...more

contacts for this news release

PORT HURON, MICHIGAN - U.S. Customs Service Inspectors in Port Huron, MI seized more than 21 million tablets (or roughly 10,000 pounds) of pseudoephedrine being smuggled into the country from Canada in a commercial truck crossing the Blue Water Bridge on June 15 at 5:00 A.M.

Pseudoephedrine is a common ingredient in cold and allergy medicines. Pseudoephedrine also serves as the key precursor chemical used in the illicit production of methamphetamine, a powerful illegal stimulant that is highly addictive. It is believed that the seized tablets were being smuggled into the country for illicit "meth" production in clandestine laboratories.

U.S. Customs inspectors found the 21,156,250 pseudoephedrine tablets in the trailer of the truck, concealed in plastic bags within 250 cardboard boxes that were labeled "Fragile." The cardboard boxes bore illustrations indicating breakable merchandise. Each cardboard box weighed about 40 pounds and contained roughly 84,600 pseudoephedrine tablets apiece. The boxes were shrink-wrapped on eight pallets and located in the nose of the 53-ft. trailer.

The pseudoephedrine, which was not manifested in the truck's cargo, is valued at more than $21 million. Manifested imports within the trailer included merchandise such as automotive parts and equipment; a crated cabana kit; cooking equipment; and office furniture. The truck was destined for ten different locations beginning in Michigan and ending in California.

The Customs inspector who made the seizure normally works at the seaport in Mobile, Ala. She has been temporarily assigned to the U.S.-Canada Border for three weeks in support of the U.S. Customs Service Level One Alert. She credits this huge seizure to her recent Contraband Enforcement Team training in Miami, Fla., and her "inspector's intuition".

This seizure represents one of the largest of its kind on the U.S.-Canada Border. The largest occurred on April 11, 2001, when U.S. Customs inspectors in Detroit seized roughly 42 million pseudoephedrine tablets being smuggled from Canada in a commercial truck. During calendar year 2001, U.S. Customs officers seized more than 111 million pseudoephedrine tablets along the U.S.-Canada border. Since October 1 of last year, U.S. Customs officers in Michigan have effected nine pseudoephedrine seizures totaling more than 36.8 million tablets.

The drivers of the commercial truck in this case were questioned by U.S. Customs special agents and released, as there was no evidence they had knowledge of the contraband. The U.S. Customs Office of Investigations in Detroit has launched an investigation into the incident.