Caught-on-camera: CBP border drug bust shows suspected fentanyl hidden in gas tank

Fox News camera were at the border when U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents busted a suspicious vehicle trying to enter the country.

“There is a huge misconception that the narcotics are coming through desert… the reality is, in Arizona so far this year, we seized over 21,000 pounds of narcotics, 18,000 pounds of that is caught at the port of entry,” a CBP Director of Field Operations at Nogales Port of Entry told Fox News Monday.

The reality of what officers face at ports of entry was on full display to the Fox News camera crew, who captured the moment an officer noticed something suspicious about the bed of a red truck attempting to cross the border.

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According to Fox News’ William Lajeunesse, officers searching the vehicle cut the gas tank open and discovered 5 to 6 bags of drugs suspected to be fentanyl floating in the fuel.

Officials credited the officers’ instincts and better scanning technology for enabling the bust, something that has become a common occurrence at southern ports of entry. 

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Officers at the Nogales Port of Entry screen about 36,000 pedestrians, cars and trucks for narcotics every day, noticing a sharp increase in attempts to traffic fentanyl across the border. The facility has seized more than a million fentanyl pills in the last two weeks, while the amount of fentanyl seizured at the facility has increased from 200 pounds in 2018 to 4,000 pounds in 2022.

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Fentanyl has become a growing issue in the U.S. in recent years, with the drug accounting for nearly 75% of fatal drug overdoses in 2021. Overall, about 80,000 people in the U.S. died of overdoses linked to fentanyl last year.