July 18, 2007  Charleston, South Carolina
Customs seizes 348 kilograms of cocaine at the Charleston port of entry

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Charleston port of entry made a significant seizure of 767 pounds of cocaine that was concealed in an arriving shipment. CBP's joint intelligence gathering between Newark, N.J. and Charleston, S.C. revealed that a suspect container would be arriving in Charleston. Street value of the cocaine is estimated at $28,960,000.

CBP officers used advanced inspection technology to perform an initial examination of the shipment. Anomalies discovered during that examination led the officers to do a more intensive physical examination that resulted in the discovery of 348 packages of cocaine concealed within the shipment of buckets of mango puree.

"This successful interdiction demonstrates the value of each layer of our enforcement strategy," said CBP Port Director Pamela Zaresk. "Intelligence sharing between Newark and Charleston, cooperation with the shipping line and our examination station, officer expertise in using inspection tools to detect anomalies and hard work to uncover the contraband were critical to this outcome."

The narcotics were turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Agency for further investigation. 

Source: US Customs