CBP seizes $2.2 million in drugs at Del Rio bridge
A Del Rio bridge stop netted cocaine, heroin and fentanyl worth $2.28 million, one of the port’s latest big busts.
A 2016 GMC Yukon crossing the Del Rio International Bridge was carrying more than 152 pounds of narcotics, a load CBP said carried a street value of $2,279,351 and could have pushed cocaine, heroin and fentanyl deeper into Val Verde County and beyond.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said the seizure happened March 10 at the Del Rio Port of Entry after a CBP officer referred the vehicle, driven by a 32-year-old female U.S. citizen, to secondary inspection. Officers then used a canine sniff and a nonintrusive inspection system exam before discovering 117.33 pounds of suspected cocaine, 23.14 pounds of suspected heroin and 11.5 pounds of suspected fentanyl hidden inside the SUV.
CBP seized the narcotics and the vehicle. Homeland Security Investigations special agents arrested the driver and are continuing the investigation.
Port Director Liliana Flores said the seizure reflected the “firm resolve” of officers and meant the load would not reach American streets. At the Del Rio crossing, where CBP says the port operates 24 hours a day, that kind of interception speaks directly to the pressure on a border community that sits on one of the region’s busiest enforcement corridors.
The haul also fits a broader pattern at Del Rio and across the Laredo Field Office border region. In fiscal year 2025, CBP said officers at the eight ports stretching from Brownsville to Del Rio seized 71,733 pounds of narcotics worth nearly $674 million, including 196 pounds of fentanyl and nearly 236 pounds of heroin. That regional total shows how often dangerous drugs move through South Texas ports, and how often officers are being forced to catch them one shipment at a time.
Del Rio has seen similar large-scale busts before. CBP previously reported a $653,000 mixed-narcotics seizure at the port and a separate $2.1 million cocaine seizure there, underscoring that the March 10 case was part of an ongoing enforcement pattern rather than an isolated stop. For Val Verde County, the latest seizure is another reminder that the Del Rio bridge remains a critical point in the fight over what reaches local streets and what gets intercepted before it can spread farther inland.
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