U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported in a press release that over 2,000 packets of baby wipes were confiscated in Laredo, Texas, after federal agents found drugs concealed within.
The seizure on Friday took place at the Laredo-Colombia Solidarity International Bridge, which spans the border between the United States and Mexico and serves as a monitoring hub for Laredo-based border patrol officers.
Officers stopped a truck as it entered Laredo for inspection and discovered more than 1,500 pounds of suspected cocaine inside. The truck was allegedly transporting a significant shipment of baby wipes.
1,935 items within the 2016 Stoughton trailer actually contained nearly as many pounds of drugs, according to a “non-intrusive” analysis using drug dogs.
The street value of the package, according to officials, was over $11.8 million.
According to Alberto Flores, the port director in Laredo, “Officers assigned to CBP cargo facilities guarantee efficient border security by stopping and combating the flow of suspected drugs into the nation.”
“This seizure is a shining illustration of how effective border security management keeps harmful drugs from entering our communities.”
The “largest cocaine bust in 20 years,” according to Randy Howe, director of field operations at the CBP office in Laredo, who tweeted about the “record-setting” drug seizure on Monday.
The seizure is being looked into by special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, according to the press release.
Smaller drug busts have been reported by Laredo border patrol agents this summer. On Monday, the organization reported seizing a $390,000 cargo of fentanyl from a vehicle coming into the country from Mexico.
At the Laredo-Columbia Solidarity International Bridge in June and July, CBP reported that agents discovered a shipment of alleged cocaine worth more than $600,000 in the tires of a trailer allegedly transporting juice and more than $1 million in cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine inside a shipment of statues.