A suspected drug trafficker chose the busy Memorial Day weekend to attempt to traffic $1.1 million in cocaine across the Progreso International Bridge. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers working the holiday weekend shattered the suspect’s hopes when they discovered the illicit contraband hidden in the suspected cartel smuggler’s vehicle.
According to CBP, officers working the Progreso Port of Entry on Saturday during the holiday weekend became suspicious when a 22-year-old United States citizen attempted to cross into the United States from Nuevo Progreso, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Officers referred the man, who arrived at the port in a 2026 GMC Sierra pickup truck, to a secondary inspection area for a more thorough inspection.
The Office of Field Operations officers at the secondary inspection area utilized non-intrusive inspection equipment to examine the vehicle for hidden contraband or smuggled people. During the examination, CBP officers discovered 33 packages containing 88 pounds of alleged cocaine hidden inside the suspect’s truck. The narcotics had an estimated street value of $1,175,085.
The suspect was arrested and turned over to the Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigative Division for further investigation into the seizure and prosecution on state narcotics charges. The suspect’s vehicle was seized by authorities at the port and will be processed for potential forfeiture.
Progreso-Donna Port of Entry Director Michael Martinez commented on the significant seizure, saying, “Amid heavy traffic over the Memorial Day weekend, our frontline CBP officers maintained strict vigilance and seized a significant quantity of narcotics. Enforcement actions like these perfectly illustrate CBP’s steadfast commitment to our priority border security mission.”
The latest cocaine seizure at Progreso adds to the more than $1.2 million worth of cocaine seized at nearby ports of entry in South Texas just weeks earlier. As reported by Breitbart Texas, in just two events at the Hidalgo and Pharr, Texas International Bridges, officers seized nearly 100 pounds of cocaine in the failed smuggling attempts.
The smuggling events highlight recent attempts by Mexican drug cartels to increasingly use land ports of entry as they struggle to operate under the tighter border security. More narcotics are being smuggled towards ports of entry, and exploiting the volume of daily legal traffic to their advantage is not a sure bet. Stricter enforcement measures under the Trump administration did not stop between the ports. Parole programs that allowed asylum seekers to enter the United States at land ports of entry were immediately canceled by President Trump upon inauguration.
Sources tell Breitbart Texas that the cancellation of the labor-intensive parole programs that required CBP officers to process the arriving asylum seekers has now allowed the agency to redirect more CBP officers to enforcement operations that focus on cargo screening, increased K-9 inspections, and the increased usage of non-intrusive technology to combat the cartel’s attempts to successfully use ports of entry for drug trafficking.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.