Officials say the loaded dairy products were declared by a 22-year-old US citizen from Mexico. US Customs and Border Protection officers found nearly 20 pounds of cocaine hidden inside what looked like regular wheels of cheese crossing the border from Mexico into Texas, officials said Friday.
US Customs and Border Protection said in a news statement that officers at the Presidio Port of Entry checked a pickup truck from Mexico on Thursday with four wheels of cheese that the driver had reported.
When police scanned the cheese wheels with an X-ray machine, they found “anomalies” in the goods, the agency said.
When the officers cut the cheese open, they found seven bundles with a total of 17.8 pounds of what they thought was cocaine inside the wheels.
CBP took the drugs and the car after they were found.
The driver, who is 22 years old and a US citizen, was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations so that he could face charges related to the claimed failed attempt to smuggle drugs. No other information about the driver was given right away.
“Sometimes, smugglers try to hide drugs in things that look harmless to throw people off,” said CBP Presidio Port Director Daniel Mercado. “Because CBP officers did thorough and extensive checks, this unusual load of drugs didn’t get to where it was supposed to go.”
Drug dealers have been caught trying to hide drugs from border patrol in strange places, like secret spaces in cars and gas tanks.
Last year, Texas border agents found $12 million worth of cocaine in a package of baby wipes. This was the biggest cocaine bust in the state in the past 20 years.
So far in the 2023 Fiscal Year, CBP has recovered more than 65,000 pounds of cocaine, according to the agency’s numbers.
