Drug Seizure Activity at El Paso Ports Remains Brisk; Missing Juvenile Among Those Apprehended by CBP
(Friday, March 27, 2009)

El Paso, Texas - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers working at ports of entry in El Paso, west Texas and New Mexico made 42 drug seizures during the previous seven days. CBP officers seized 3,222 pounds of marijuana and a small quantity of heroin in those busts.

CBP officers working at the Fabens port of entry yesterday apprehended a 15-year-old boy who had been reported missing. CBP officers discovered five pounds of marijuana taped to his legs as he attempted to enter the U.S. from Mexico as a pedestrian. The seizure was made after CBP officers queried the passport the boy presented as an entry document and learned that he was being sought as a missing juvenile. The violator, a U.S. citizen from Fabens, Texas was turned over to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department for prosecution.

The boy was one of four juvenile drug smugglers nabbed by area CBP officers this week. CBP officers intercepted three different 16-year-old drug smugglers on March 21. CBP officers have apprehend a total of 17 juvenile drug smugglers during the month of March, easily exceeding the 12 juvenile drug smuggling arrests made during January and February of this year.

“CBP officers examine all people entering the U.S. from Mexico to make sure they do not pose a risk to this nation. Area teens need to know and understand that they are not exempt and if they are smuggling they will be caught,â€