147 Pounds Of Cocaine Found In Shipping Container At Port
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Customs officials found 147 pounds of cocaine in a shipping container at the Port of Baltimore.
The cocaine, which was discovered on Aug. 4, was in a shipping container from Brazil.
It's the largest cocaine seizure U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seen in Baltimore since April 2007, when CBP officers found 310 pounds of cocaine inside 3 gym bags inside a refrigerated shipping container from Ecuador.
Officers found the cocaine last week when they noticed abnormalities in a shipment of lumber when using non-intrusive imaging technologies. The white powdery substance was packed in 57 bricks concealed in two gym bags. It tested posted as cocaine.
The cocaine had an estimated street value of more than $4 million.
"Narcotics interdiction remains a top Customs and Border Protection enforcement priority, and this case illustrates how CBP officers leverage non-intrusive imaging technologies to intercept dangerous drugs and to help keep our communities safe," said Dianna Bowman, CBP Area Port Director for the Port of Baltimore.
Non-intrusive inspection (NII) technology enables CBP to detect contraband (e.g., narcotics and weapons) and materials that pose potential nuclear and radiological threats.