U.S. Customs and Border Protection said officers found more than 10,000 pounds of marijuana hidden in a shipping container labeled as men’s shirts, in a load valued at about $24 million
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said its officers in Baltimore seized more than 10,000 pounds of marijuana concealed inside a shipping container headed for Liverpool, England.
According to CBP, the seizure happened on May 29 during an export inspection of a 40-foot shipping container from Nassau County, New York, that was manifested as men’s cotton and nylon shirts. Instead, the agency said, officers found 238 boxes packed with vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana. CBP said the load weighed a combined 4,815 kilograms — about 10,615 pounds — with a street value of roughly $24 million in the United States, and said it could fetch about twice that in Europe.
The agency credited a narcotics detector dog named Letti, a 2-year-old German shepherd, with alerting officers to the boxes inside the container.
“This is a recklessly brazen attempt to smuggle over five tons of marijuana through Baltimore to Europe, and an incredible effort by exceptionally professional Customs and Border Protection officers to intercept it,” said Adam Rottman, CBP’s Area Port Director in Baltimore. He said transnational criminal organizations remain drawn by the higher marijuana profits they expect to earn in Europe.
CBP said no arrests have been made and that Homeland Security Investigations special agents are continuing the investigation. Special Agent in Charge Akil Baldwin of HSI Maryland said the scheme to move multi-ton drug loads through commercial cargo channels represents an abuse of the same infrastructure that supports legitimate trade and drives up security and inspection costs.
A Growing Trend
According to CBP, officers across the country continue to see transnational criminal organizations attempting to move marijuana to Europe — mostly in kilo-sized parcels through express air delivery, but increasingly in passenger baggage as well — because high-quality marijuana can sell there for two to three times its U.S. price.
The agency said it has logged a series of recent Europe-bound seizures in the region, including loads intercepted in passenger baggage and commercial shipments at airports in the Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia areas, as well as a commercial truck load at the Peace Bridge crossing in Buffalo. CBP said some of the travelers involved are facing criminal charges.
The agency said its officers seized about 185,000 pounds of marijuana in the last fiscal year and roughly 190,000 pounds during the first seven months of the current fiscal year. CBP noted that marijuana remains illegal under federal law, which also prohibits transporting it across state lines or exporting it from the United States.
