Del Rio CBP Officers Seize Heroin

DEL RIO, Texas – A Junction man landed in jail Tuesday after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Del Rio Port of Entry found more than 20 pounds of heroin in his vehicle.

Around 10 p.m. Tuesday evening, a 2003 Ford Explorer, bearing Texas license plates, arrived at the Port of Entry from Mexico. The driver, a Mexican citizen, presented a permanent resident alien card as identification. CBP officers referred the Explorer for an intensive inspection, during which they discovered several bundles hidden under a false bottom in an ice chest.

Officers removed 10 bundles of heroin, weighing a total of 20.59 pounds. The driver, a 50-year-old Junction man, was turned over to agents from Homeland Security Investigations.

“Our CBP officers’ training, experience and attention to detail kept this dangerous contraband from entering the country,” said Michael Perez, CBP Port Director, Del Rio. “Preventing illicit drugs from reaching our communities is one of the many facets of our job.”

The Office of Field Operations is the primary organization within U.S. Customs and Border Protection tasked with an anti-terrorism mission at our nation’s ports. CBP officers screen all people, vehicles and goods entering the U.S. while facilitating the flow of legitimate trade and travel. Their mission also includes carrying out border-related duties, including narcotics interdiction, enforcing immigration and trade laws, and protecting the nation’s food supply and agriculture industry from pests and diseases.

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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 official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.