Daily Attempts to get Drugs to our Streets Stopped by Agents in Rio Grande Valley

Border Patrol Agents assigned to the Rio Grande City Station and the Texas Department of Public Safety were conducting operations near Chapeno, Texas.  Agents observed multiple subjects emerge from the riverbank carrying bundles of suspected narcotics and then load them into a waiting SUV. Agents encountered the abandoned vehicle with the contraband inside. The driver fled south to Mexico and the agents seized 25 bundles of marijuana, weighing 567.68 pounds, with an estimated value of $454,144.

This morning, agents assigned to the Rio Grande City station observed eleven subjects running south, crossing the river into Mexico near Escobares, Texas. With the assistance of a service K-9, agents seized five bundles of marijuana. The drugs weighed 338 pounds with an estimated street value of $270,720.

Also this morning, agents assigned to the Fort Brown station responded to a report of two subjects scaling the border fence near Brownsville, Texas. Agents arrested two 17 year old Mexican nationals and seized 25 lbs. of marijuana worth an estimated $20,000. The subjects were referred for state prosecution.          

Even with the spread of the COVID-19 virus, human smugglers continue to try these brazen attempts with zero regard for the lives they endanger nor to the health of the citizens of our great nation.  The U.S. Border Patrol agents of the Rio Grande Valley Sector will continue to safeguard the nation and community against these criminal elements.