U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized heroin mixed with fentanyl and THC vape oil from a cruise passenger returning to Galveston, leading to an arrest and referral for prosecution.
At the Galveston ship Port on April 20, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers found heroin mixed with fentanyl and THC vape oil. They then arrested a ship passenger who was coming back from Mexico.
During a search of the bags, CBP agents found several vape pens with THC from marijuana and several prescription pill bottles, two of which had a strange powdery substance inside them. Later, tests in the field showed that the drugs were heroin mixed with fentanyl. Police took away 96 grams of THC vape oil and about 72 grams of a mixture of heroin and fentanyl.
The person, who was a citizen of the United States, was arrested and sent to the local police to be charged. The acting CBP area port director, John Landry, said, "Fentanyl is a weapon of mass destruction in this country. CBP works every day to keep Americans safe from dangerous and deadly drugs." "Thanks to the vigilance of our brave and dedicated CBP officers, we continue to intercept these deadly substances at our ports of entry before they can do damage in our local communities."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say that fentanyl, a synthetic painkiller that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin, is the main drug that kills people by overdosing in the United States. Small amounts can be enough to kill, and it is often mixed in with illegal drugs or fake pills without people knowing.
Authorities are still warning people that they can't be sure if drugs have lethal amounts of fentanyl unless they are prescribed by a qualified medical professional and bought from a real pharmacy. Officials from CBP said that stopping dangerous drugs at U.S. ports of entry is still their top concern.
