EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Another man was arrested this week after he was caught hiding fentanyl in his rectum while trying to cross the Ysleta Port of Entry in El Paso, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
CBP says officers working at the Ysleta bridge seized around one-third of a pound of fentanyl after a 41-year-old man was hiding the drugs in his rectum.
The man, a U.S. citizen who arrived from Mexico was crossing the border as a pedestrian just after 7 p.m. this past Monday, March 31.
An officer selected the man for a secondary exam following a short interview and a CBP drug sniffing dog searched the man and alerted to the presence of narcotics, CBP said.
Officers continued their inspection and discovered that the man had hidden drugs concealed within his anal cavity, CBP said.
CBP says the man would not consent to a medical exam and a Homeland Security Investigations special agent obtained a search warrant shortly after midnight on Tuesday, April 1.
An x-ray was then conducted on the man and the x-ray confirmed that there was a presence of a foreign object concealed internally, CBP said.
CBP officers continued to monitor the man while he was under medical care, and the man eventually passed a bundle just before 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
The contents of the package contained multiple tablets which tested positive for fentanyl. The total weight of the package was 0.31 pounds, CBP said.
CBP officers arrested the driver. He was turned over to HSI special agents to face charges associated with the failed smuggling attempt.
A 26-year-old man was also recently arrested after he was caught trying to smuggle methamphetamine which was concealed within his buttocks, according to CBP.
Read: Read More