see also: in August 2005 Press Releases:   DHS: Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative Formally Submitted for Public Comment   U.S. Customs and Border Protection Canine Superstar Wins Paws to Recognize Voting Contest   Border Patrol Seizes Refrigerated Truck Trailer Loaded with Aliens   U.S. Customs and Border Protection Selects the “Predator B” as Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Platform to Guard our Nations Borders   CBP Border Patrol Agents Arrest Murder Suspect   U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer Apprehends Man Wanted for Murder   CBP Aircraft Coordinates Vessel Interdiction; Major Load of Cocaine Seized ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

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Alamogordo, New Mexico --- U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agents made a third significant drug seizure this week at a highway traffic checkpoint. Border Patrol agents discovered 2,226 pounds of marijuana in a 1997 tractor-trailer that was bound for Michigan.

Yesterday, at approximately 8:30 p.m., agents assigned to the NM Highway 54 checkpoint outside of Alamogordo encountered a tractor-trailer that drove into the primary inspection area. The driver of the truck, a U.S. Citizen from Tennessee, was questioned about the contents of cargo.

While in the secondary inspection area, a CBP Border Patrol canine was requested and alerted on the trailer area. Agents searched the trailer and found several cellophane bundles contained in boxes. A total of 21 boxes containing 113 cellophane bundles of marijuana were retrieved, weighing 2,226 pounds. The value of the contraband is estimated at $1,700,000.

The driver, identified as 44-year old Walter Gene Bruce, was taken into custody and turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Las Cruces with the contraband and truck.

Earlier this week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol agents in Alamogordo seized $6.8 million in cocaine, in two separate seizures at New Mexico highway traffic checkpoints.

In fiscal year 2005, agents from the Alamogordo Station have made 203 seizures, valued at $18.2 million.

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.