Border Agents Intercept Nearly $15 Million in Meth

Border agents in Pharr, Texas, seized an enormous amount of methamphetamine, totaling nearly $15 million, before it could be dispersed into the United States, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) exclusively told The Epoch Times on Tuesday.

This recent interception on Aug. 15 was in a tractor-trailer from Reynosa, Mexico, manifesting as a shipment of fresh celery, according to the agency. It adds to a growing, record-setting level of illegal narcotics being seized by CBP at the border and throughout the country.

The encounter happened at the Pharr International Bridge cargo facility, which is part of the Hidalgo/Pharr – Anzalduas Port of Entry.

“This successful seizure of methamphetamine is a direct result of our officers’ keen intuition combined with our sophisticated tools and technology,” Port Director Carlos Rodriguez said. “Our officers are trained to look beyond the surface, and when you pair that human expertise with the precision of our scanning equipment, it creates a formidable defense against those attempting to smuggle illegal narcotics into our country.”

Border officers referred the vehicle for a secondary inspection, which can involve full X-ray scans and K-9 teams, when they encountered it at the cargo facility. A closer look at the shipment revealed “anomalies” hidden within it, CBP said.

A physical inspection turned up 721 packages of methamphetamine weighing 1,676 pounds and totaling $14.98 million, according to the agency.

The Office of Field Operations, an agency that operates under CBP, seized the narcotics and tractor-trailer.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) began a criminal probe.

For comparison, the nearly $15 million methamphetamine seizure in a single day at the Pharr International Bridge is almost one-quarter of the entire San Diego Sector’s seizures of all drug types, totaling $67 million, for the whole month of July.

The San Diego Sector encompasses several ports of entry and is considered to be one of the highest traffic crossing areas in the country.

From July 1 to July 30, CBP officers in San Diego seized 8,359 pounds of narcotics in 144 smuggling attempts, according to a news release.

This involved 554 pounds of fentanyl, 37 pounds of heroin, 2,573 pounds of cocaine, and 5,077 pounds of methamphetamine. CBP agents arrested all suspects in each smuggling attempt and turned them over to HSI for further investigation.

Several CBP leaders have credited their success to the Trump administration’s tough border and immigration policies.

As of the latest data available, CBP’s drug seizure total for fiscal year 2026, which runs from October to September, is 697,000 pounds.

Fiscal year 2025 yielded 583,000 pounds of illegal narcotics. For fiscal years 2024 and 2023, the amounts were 573,000 and 549,000, respectively.

CBP’s historic drug seizure success comes as it recently delivered 15 straight months of zero illegal immigrant releases at the border.