Federal agents working a multi-agency operation along the South Texas border seized more than 1,600 pounds of narcotics, 15 firearms, over 3,000 rounds of ammunition and more than $360,000 in cash, and arrested 89 people, officials announced Monday.
The enforcement push, called Operation Southern Surge, ran through late October and drew on 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 operation targeted drug trafficking and criminal activity at ports of entry in Laredo, Roma, Hidalgo and Brownsville.
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 connects Laredo to Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. He said the seizures and arrests covered activity since Oct. 19 across a stretch of border territory running from Laredo southeast several hundred miles to Brownsville in the Rio Grande Valley — a region with historically high volumes of illegal crossings.
“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.
One of the largest single 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 close to $985,000, according to Del Rincon.
In a separate stop at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge, CBP officers using nonintrusive inspection technology flagged an anomaly in another vehicle. A follow-up search found 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.
