Federal agents working in South Texas seized more than 1,600 pounds of narcotics, 15 firearms, over 3,000 rounds of ammunition and more than $360,000 in illicit cash during a two-week enforcement push, officials announced Monday. The operation also resulted in 89 arrests.
The effort, called Operation Southern Surge, ran from Oct. 19 through the end of the month and involved U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol K9 teams, Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas. The agencies focused on ports of entry in Laredo, Roma, Hidalgo and Brownsville, a stretch of border that runs from roughly two hours south of San Antonio southeast to the Rio Grande Valley.
Paul Del Rincon, assistant director of CBP’s Office of Field Operations in Laredo, detailed the results at a news conference near the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge, which spans the Rio Grande connecting Laredo to Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
“Operation Southern Surge brings additional CBP officers, specialized Office of Field Operations and Border Patrol K9 teams, advanced screening technology and targeted inspections, to the ports of Laredo, Roma, Hidalgo and Brownsville,” Del Rincon said.
Among the largest individual seizures came over the weekend at the Hidalgo Port of Entry, where a K-9 alerted officers to a vehicle carrying a shipment of leeks. A search turned up 909 cylindrical packages hidden among the produce that tested positive for methamphetamine. The packages weighed nearly 1,083 pounds combined, with an estimated street value of about $985,000, according to Del Rincon.
In a separate incident at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge, CBP officers using nonintrusive inspection technology detected what Del Rincon described as “an anomaly” in a vehicle. A subsequent search uncovered nearly 50 pounds of cocaine concealed in 20 packages.
Officials did not release further details on the identities or charges facing the 89 people arrested as part of the operation.
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