On Wednesday, Arizona border agents discovered more than 600 pounds of cocaine being smuggled into the country in a large cucumber shipment.
“Officials say a joint effort between Homeland Security, the DEA, and Customs and Border Protection led to the discovery of the massive smuggling attempt. DEA agents said in total, 615 pounds of cocaine was seized. In photos provided by the agency, it appears the drugs were found hidden underneath the cucumbers,” 3TV/CBS 5 reported.
Photos posted to Twitter by the DEA appeared to show that the cocaine was hidden underneath the cucumbers.
Drug traffickers use creative concealment methods: 279 KG of #cocaine (600+ pounds) seized from produce load of cucumbers. @DEAPHOENIXDiv @HSIPhoenix @CBPArizona working together, serving Arizona, keeping our communities safe. https://t.co/qHSLJrNeFu pic.twitter.com/Zs8uaEGuF5
— DEAPhoenix (@DEAPHOENIXDiv) February 16, 2022
The discovery comes as President Biden’s border crisis continues, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection numbers showing that more than 2 million migrants were apprehended attempting to illegally cross the southern border in the calendar year 2021.
In December 2021 alone there were 178,840 illegal border crossings. That number was thousands higher than the December totals from 2020, 2019, and 2018 combined.
Last month, former acting CBP commissioner Mark Morgan responded to the border crisis in a statement, saying, “More than a year ago, even as Joe Biden was preparing to roll back President Donald Trump’s effective border security policies, he claimed he did not want to end up with ‘two million people on our border.’ After a year on the job, it’s undeniable that Biden has failed even by his own basic measure.”
“In 12 months, CBP recorded more than two million encounters along the southwest border, a shocking and historic number,” Morgan added. “But that number does not include an estimated 600,000 or more ‘got-aways,’ individuals who cross the border illegally but which Border Patrol is unable to detain. And then there are the ‘turn-backs,’ those who make an effort to cross the border but eventually give up and return to their country of origin. Under Biden, that number was around 400,000. Under Joe Biden, more than three million people have tried to violate America’s sovereignty and illegally enter our country. This is not only the worst border crisis in American history—it’s the worst 12 months for any president when it comes to border security.”