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EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Monday afternoon, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials announced that their Agriculture Specialists assigned to area border crossings seized 230 pounds of prohibited pork bologna on two separate unrelated incidents in recent days.
“People will sometimes make light of these seizures but there is nothing funny about these failed smuggling attempts,” said CBP El Paso Director of Field Operations Hector Mancha.
“The importation of unregulated pork products has the potential to introduce foreign animal diseases which can be detrimental to our nation’s agriculture industry.”
CBP officials say the first seizure was made February 25, at the Bridge of the Americas, as married couple from El Paso entered the U.S., traveling in separate vehicles.
The first vehicle, driven by a 23-year-old U.S. citizen, arrived for inspection and gave a negative agriculture declaration to the primary CBP Officer. Officials say the vehicle was then referred for a secondary inspection where rolls of prohibited pork bologna were discovered hidden in the vehicle.
The driver admitted that his friend paid him to import the bologna. Shortly thereafter, the driver’s wife was referred for a secondary inspection where more bologna was discovered. A total of 110 pounds of bologna were seized from both travelers.
The second bust was made at the Santa Teresa border crossing on February 28, when a 59-year-old U.S. citizen resident of Santa Fe, New Mexico pulled up for inspection via vehicle primary lanes. He gave a negative agriculture declaration to the primary CBP Officer who then sent the vehicle for a secondary inspection.
During a secondary non-intrusive inspection, CBP Officers identified anomalies in the vehicle’s cargo area. Further search resulted in the discovery of 13 rolls of prohibited pork bologna with a total weight of 120 pounds.
All three drivers from both cases were issued civil penalties for failure to declare commercial quantities of bologna. The bologna was seized and destroyed by CBP per USDA regulations.
CBP officials remind travelers that undeclared prohibited agriculture items will be confiscated and can result in the issuance of a civil penalty for failure to declare.
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