Customs and Border Protection officers announced they found 254 pounds of fentanyl hidden inside a truck carrying cucumbers across the port of entry in Nogales, Arizona on Thursday, according to NBC News.
Along with the powerful opioid, CBP also found 395 pounds of methamphetamine hidden in the floor compartment.
Officials said it was the largest seizure in the history of fentanyl, valued at $3.5 million, while the methamphetamine was also valued at $1.1 million.
A canine officer alerted his handler to the presence of fentanyl hidden inside the truck during a secondary inspection at the Mariposa port of entry on Saturday.
"It has been sent for a chemical analysis, so we won't know the purity until a much later date," said Michael Humphries, the port director for Nogales. at the time.
But he also explained how since fentanyl is 80 to 11 times more potent than morphine, it can easily be deadly in small doses.
Guadalupe Ramirez, who oversees all border crossings in Arizona for CBP, told Arizona Central: "Normally, the southwest border ports are intercepting the most fentanyl, compared to other ports of entry, airports, seaports, the northern border."
"This is the largest fentanyl seizure in any port of entry," he said. "In CBP, in the history of CBP, this is the largest fentanyl seizure."
CBP arrested the driver of the 18-wheeler-truck and handed him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigation, which prosecutes international criminal activity.
The Nogales border crossing is at its peak of winter produce season so there are millions of boxes of product that cross the border from Mexico to the United States.
Mariposa's commercial crossing has an average of 1,500 trucks crossing every day, according to CBP.
The record amount of fentanyl was twice the previous record seizure when 118 pounds was found by state troopers in Nebraska in 2017
Humphries praised the CBP agents for the arrest: "Their attention to small details that is necessary to make these types of seizures is incredible."
A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said fentanyl was responsible for more than 28,400 overdose deaths in 2017.
Most of the illicitly produced fentanyl in the United States comes from Mexico and has been one of the reasons President Donald Trump has claimed the need for a border wall along the Southern U.S.
-WN.com, Maureen Foody