see also: in April 2008:   U. S. Customs and Border Protection Seizes $1.3 Million Worth of Counterfeit Cigarettes   Border Patrol Launches Rhode Island Search   Border Patrol Agent Search Launches in Atlanta   CBP Officers in Texas Find $3 Million Worth of Dope in 'Empty' Sea Container   New Jersey CBP Officers Make $4 Million Heroin Candy Bar Bust   Border Patrol Agents Locate More Than Half Ton of Marijuana ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

contacts for this news release

Nogales, Ariz. - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have seized yet another tractor-trailer, this time containing 3,418 pounds of marijuana. This is the second seizure of this sort in less than two weeks. The two seizures combined total 4,757 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $7.6 million.

On Monday, April 28, 2008, officers working the Mariposa Cargo Facility targeted a tractor-trailer with a shipment of cucumbers destined for California from Sinaloa, Mexico and referred the vehicle for inspection. The boxes of produce were unloaded and officers used a narcotics detector dog to screen the boxes. After the dog alerted to narcotics odor coming from the shipment, the officers searched the individual boxes and discovered bundles of marijuana hidden among the cucumbers.

A total of 144 bundles, weighing more than 3,418 lbs, were removed and seized, along with the vehicle. The estimated street value of the narcotics is $5.5 million.

In a similar incident, On Wednesday, April 16, 2008, officers at the Mariposa Cargo Facility targeted a tractor-trailer with a shipment of tomatoes also destined for Los Angeles from Sinaloa, Mexico. During a search of the tomatoes, officers removed a total of 60 bales of marijuana from the shipment for a weight of more than 1,340 pounds. Estimated street value of the narcotics exceeds $2.1 million.

Since October 2007, approximately 15,878 pounds of marijuana, estimated to be worth more than $25.5 million, have been intercepted at the Mariposa Cargo Facility.

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.