U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from the Tucson Sector Wednesday announced that it had seized a massive quantity of the extremely lethal drug fentanyl.
“U.S. Border Patrol agents working the Interstate 19 Immigration Checkpoint near Amado, Arizona, seized over 50 pounds of suspected fentanyl and arrested the driver of the vehicle Monday morning,” a CBP press release said.
“Tucson Sector agents encountered a 33-year-old U.S. citizen female driving a white Ford F150. A canine alert along with imaging technology led agents to discover a hidden compartment in the bed of the pickup that contained multiple packages of blue pills,” the release continued.
Fentanyl, which is manufactured mostly in foreign countries and smuggled into the United States via the open border with Mexico, is used to lace street drugs like heroin. Just a tiny dose, two milligrams, can be lethal according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). One kilogram could kill up to 500,000 people.
CBP seized 50 pounds of the illicit substance, or 22.68 kilograms. That’s enough fentanyl to kill more than 11 million people.
“Agents transferred custody of the suspected fentanyl and the suspect to the Drug Enforcement Administration, who will be pursuing prosecution,” CBP said.
As usual, it has been a busy week for CBP agents in Arizona, who arrested a previously convicted child sex offender trying to illegally reenter the country near Yuma earlier this week.
Also this week, it was reported that the Biden administration, which has officially ended all federal government contracts for border wall projects, has allowed 277,000 illegal aliens apprehended at the border to be released into the United States this year alone.
In both July and August, CBP encountered more than 200,000 illegal aliens, respectively, putting the United States on pace to break the record for illegal border crossings in a single year.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a contributor at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
