Border agents find $1.4 Million in drugs in abandoned car

Border agents find $1.4M in drugs in abandoned car

Border Patrol agents in Blaine, Wash., have found an estimated $1.4 million worth of methamphetamine and opium alkaloids in a car abandoned at a rest area.

The Associated Press

BLAINE, Wash. —
Border Patrol agents in Blaine, Wash., have found an estimated $1.4 million worth of methamphetamine and opium alkaloids in a car abandoned at a rest area.

The Bellingham Herald reports that agents had stopped the car Sunday night on an Interstate 5 onramp, but as an agent walked up the car sped off. It was found a short time later, abandoned at a rest area.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says two large bags inside the vehicle contained more than 60,000 opium tablets and about 77 pounds of a white, powdery substance that tested positive for meth.

The drugs and car were turned over to the Bellingham office of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
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Information from: The Bellingham Herald, Bellingham, Whatcom County News and Information / The Bellingham Herald

Local News | Border agents find $1.4M in drugs in abandoned car | Seattle Times Newspaper

Blaine Border Patrol Agents Seize Nearly $1.4 Million in Drugs

(Monday, March 26, 2012)

Blaine, Wash. – On Sunday evening, March 25, United States Border Patrol agents stopped a vehicle on the mile marker 275 on ramp to I-5 in Blaine, Washington. The vehicle sped away when the agent approached the vehicle on foot. Agents found the vehicle abandoned a short time later in a nearby rest area off I-5.

Two large bags were recovered from the vehicle which contained packages of tablets and packages of a white powdery substance. The powdery substance weighed over 77 pounds and field tested positive for methamphetamines with an estimated value of $386,470. The tablets field tested positive for an opium alkaloid and extrapolated out to 61,395 tablets with an estimated value of $1,009,232.

The narcotics and vehicle were turned over to the Bellingham Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration for further investigation.

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

Department of Homeland Security

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/...03262012_9.xml