A seizure at the Paso Del Norte border crossing based in El Paso, Texas was anything but bologna as officers took 484 pounds of the sandwich meat on October 27, 2022. They would also seize 285 pounds of cheese that same day.
Border Patrol Officers Seize Almost 500 POUNDS of Bologna and Nearly 300 POUNDS in Cheese in Texas
The bologna bust went down after 1:30 AM when a U.S citizen rolled into the checkpoint in a pickup truck. In the initial inspection, the officers picked up on the driver being nervous and moved him to the secondary inspection. This guy must’ve been sweating bullets to be noticeably nervous—as he should be while smuggling close to 500 pounds of lunch meat.
Officers inspected the truck and found 44 rolls of Mexican bologna in the vehicle’s toolbox and simply tucked under a blanket on the vehicle’s floor. The reason for the seizure—besides being undeclared goods in commercial quantities—was because of safety.
Port Director Ray Provencio said “Pork products have the potential to introduce foreign animal diseases that can be detrimental to our agriculture industry.” Three hours later, authorities stopped the cheese smuggler. This was another U.S citizen who had a couple of boxes hidden under a blanket in her SUV.
Both the meat trafficker and the cheese smuggler were given $1,000 civil penalty and the goods were seized. Provencio summed up their offenses and seizures as being caused by failure to clear the food when they crossed into the U.S.
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