U.S Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced on Aug. 1 that it seized more than a half a ton of fentanyl, approximately 4 million pills, at the Port of Lukeville, Arizona—the largest singular fentanyl seizure in CBP history. The seizure occurred when a 20-year-old U.S. citizen and a resident of Arizona arrived at the Port driving a pick-up truck. His truck was also hauling a utility trailer with a sport recreational vehicle on it.
During a thorough inspection of the truck, trailer, and recreational vehicle, CBP officers noticed the frame of the trailer had anomalies, according to the CBP.
With the assistance of a CBP canine team, officers discovered 234 packages of pills were concealed within the frame of a trailer. The packages contained approximately 4 million blue fentanyl pills.
“This is the largest fentanyl seizure in CBP’s history, and reflects our unwavering determination to protect our nation and to disrupt the criminal activities of ruthless drug cartels,” Troy Miller, CBP senior official performing the duties of the commissioner, said in a press release.
“Every day, CBP officers and agents are on our front line, using their keen instincts and the latest technology to prevent deadly drugs from entering our country and poisoning our communities,” Miller said.
Guadalupe Ramirez, director of field operations for the Tucson Field Office, commended the seizure in a press statement.
“This is an enormous amount of dangerous drugs that officers at the Port of Lukeville prevented from reaching communities throughout the United States,” Ramirez said.
Officers at the same port of entry also seized approximately 270 pounds of methamphetamine on July 12.
The second seizure involved a 45-year-old Mexican man, who attempted to make entry into the country while driving a pick-up truck towing a utility trailer.
During an inspection of his truck, with the assistance of the canine team, officers found 39 packages of methamphetamine totalling 272 pounds and five pounds of cocaine.
CBP estimates that both seizures had an estimated street value of over $12.6 million.
Both the seizures were part of CBP’s Operation Apollo-Arizona and Operation Plaza Spike.
Operation Apollo-Arizona is a CBP-led counter-fentanyl joint operation with law enforcement that focuses on disrupting drug and chemical supply and collecting and sharing intelligence. The operation builds on previous actions to strengthen intelligence on trafficking networks.
Operation Plaza Spike targets cartels and their plaza bosses and is designated to disrupt operations in the plazas, which are cartel territories located directly south of the United States, to stop the flow of fentanyl and other illicit synthetic drugs.
According to the CDC, there were 74,702 fentanyl deaths and 36,251 methamphetamine deaths in the country in 2023.
President Joe Biden said in a statement on July 31 that his administration’s “efforts have helped lead to the first decline in overdose deaths in five years.”
“We have seized more fentanyl at our border in the last two years than in the last five years combined, arrested and prosecuted dozens of high-level drug traffickers and cartel leaders, sanctioned over 300 entities and individuals involved in the global illicit drug trade, and forged historic counternarcotics cooperation with China,” Biden said.
“Still, far too many of our fellow Americans continue to lose loved ones to fentanyl. This is a time to act. And this is a time to stand together—for all those we have lost, and for all the lives we can still save.”
