Authorities at the United States-Mexico border seized a shipment of suspected methamphetamine, which had an estimated street value of $8.1 million, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Tuesday. The shipment was disguised as tiles, the agency said.
Border patrol officers found the narcotics inside a commercial tractor trailer that crossed the Pharr International Bridge from from Reynosa, Mexico into Texas on April 21. Once it was inspected and screened by a team of drug detection dogs, officers discovered that pallets masquerading as tiles in the back of the cargo vehicle actually contained packages of white powder.
Overall, they seized 200 packages weighing more than 900 pounds, along with the trailer itself, CBP said. Homeland Security Investigation agents have opened a criminal probe into the seizure, according to the agency
CBP said the powder “tested positive for the properties of methamphetamine,” a synthetic stimulant that is considered highly addictive. Although there is an FDA-approved version of it that is very rarely prescribed for specific medical conditions, methamphetamine largely exists in the U.S. illegally, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Association.
“As this significant seizure aptly illustrates, CBP officers work tirelessly to ensure that commerce flows and hard narcotics are stopped in their tracks,” said Carlos Rodriguez, director of the border complex in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley that includes ports of entry at Hidalgo, Pharr and Anzalduas, in a statement.
Officers have intercepted enormous quantities of illegal drugs in Texas border towns in recent years. In 2024, they seized 6.5 tons of methamphetamine from a tractor trailer that crossed a different bridge from Mexico into Eagle Pass, another Texas town located several hundred miles from Pharr. That haul included more than 13,000 pounds of drugs worth an estimated $117 million. When that seizure happened, it was the largest to ever take place during a single enforcement action at a at a U.S. entry port, according to CBP.
