CBP Retrieves Marijuana Bundles from River

Havana, Texas — Agents of the U.S. Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection Office of Air and Marine, and the Palmview Fire Department retrieved bundles of marijuana from the Rio Grande.

The event transpired at about 10 a.m. Saturday when a CBP Office of Air and Marine helicopter patrolling the Rio Grande, observed several bundles afloat in a flooded area south of Havana, Texas. Ground agents as well as the Palmview Fire Department were summoned and retrieved 21 bundles, weighing close to 600 pounds from the floodwaters.

The narcotics had an estimated value of close to $500,000 and were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

“Most likely, the drugs were abandoned by smugglers after the smugglers became aware of the Office of Air and Marine unit approaching,” Acting Chief Patrol Agent Ricardo E. Aguirre said. “This is a good example of how efforts between local, state, and federal agencies are successful, not only in saving lives, but effective in the deterrence of crime.”