Largest fentanyl bust in history, and third largest meth bust, made at Mexico/US border

It’s being called the largest fentanyl bust in US history; a massive shipment of fentanyl and meth has been stopped at the southern border.  Now, authorities are revealing how they found it.

Nearly 254 pounds of the deadly synthetic opioid worth an estimated $3.5 million was intercepted, Border Patrol in Arizona saying it’s the biggest fentanyl bust ever.

Port Director Michael Humphries saying, “the drugs… were attempted to be smuggled into the United States from Mexico”.  

Agents became suspicious of a tractor-trailer carrying cucumbers, which was trying to enter the United States through a border checkpoint.  The load was sent for a secondary inspection when this truck-mounted x-ray found hidden compartments in the truck.  

Humphries says, “they like to use vehicles with hidden compartments that they’re able to track instead of between ports of entry”.

They say the amount in this shipment was enough to provide 115 million lethal doses of the drug, which is now blamed for the majority of overdose deaths in the US.

“It is said that a quarter-milligram, or the size of a few grains of salt, of fentanyl, which is a dangerous opioid, can kill a person very quickly,” Humphries explains.

Also on the tractor-trailer, 395 pounds of meth, the third-largest seizure of its kind in the US.

Data from Customs and Border Protection shows smuggling of meth and fentanyl is on the rise and the ports are the main places for smugglers to slip drugs into the country.

“Most hard narcotics seized at CBP are at the ports of entry and that’s the case here.”

The bust comes as President Donald Trump continues to push for a border wall.  Overnight, the president responded, tweeting, “Our great US Border Patrol Agents made the biggest fentanyl bust in our country’s history. Thanks, as always, for a job well done!”