Border agents have seized thousands of illegal goods, including drugs, guns, and illicit cash, entering the country this year, according to ( NewsNation ), but handling that contraband can take many different paths.
U. S. Customs and Border Protection ( CBP ) agents seized over 273, 000 pounds of drugs, nearly 2, 000 weapons and over$ 22 million in illegal currency this year, data showed.
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A spokesperson for the agency told NewsNation that CBP collaborates with other state and federal agencies to ensure that these items are handled securely. The procedure involves lengthy, sometimes strict procedures.
How does Border Patrol handle medication?  ,
The organization said that when medications are seized at the border, they are quickly tested to determine what they are.
After that, the way the pharmaceutical takes depends on if there is further research and prosecutors, according to CBP.  ,
If there is an analysis and possible prosecution, CBP holds the medicines as information in its vault, the company said. Depending on the prosecutor’s request, the arrest could be the whole batch or merely a sample.
Last month, CBP seized roughly 600, 000 pounds of illegal medications, which was down by about 16 % from spasms in 2022, according to national statistics.  ,
More than half was seized along the southern border last season, and marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl were the largest amount of drugs seized last month, data showed.  ,
According to law enforcement, Mexican drug cartels are becoming more inventive in attempting to conceal large volumes of illegal medication entering the country illegally.
In December, Border Patrol agents in California’s El Centro Sector , seized 218 weight of wet methamphetamine, totaling almost$ 3.5 million, that was found inside the fuel tank of a car attempting to bring the medicine through the station.
When the situation officially closes, which can sometimes take years, the drugs can only be completely destroyed.
Long-term drug keeping is a challenge. Caught narcotics are often weighed to prevent alteration, sometimes without warning.
If there is no trial, the medicines are destroyed as soon as possible.
A security team closely monitors the smoldering from beginning to end, according to the organization, and CBP pays companies to do so.
What happens to border-seized improper funds and money?  ,
The Treasury Forfeiture Fund, a Department of Treasury account, receives the money once the company has finished an investigation and discovers that the seized money was used for illegal activities and not as a result of the agency’s failure to proclaim the funds.  ,
According to a 2023 statement from the Treasury Department, the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture manages the Treasury Forfeiture Fund, which was established in 1992.  ,
According to the report, the money put into this account is used for a variety of purposes, including to spend state and local law enforcement for those who assisted in the seizure, compensate subjects where the seized goods represent fraud proceeds, and give maintenance costs.  ,
The report further states that the funding allows its participating agencies to join “unanticipated needs created by COVID- 19 related crimes, ensuring that the agencies have the resources to pin and capture these large schemes and return the funds to the defrauded government agencies, secret entities, and individuals.  ,
In 2023, over$ 800 million was in the Treasury Forfeiture Fund.  ,
Last year, CBP seized more than$ 53 million in undeclared or illicit currency, which can be proceeds from alleged illicit activity or currency that funds transnational criminal organizations, federal data showed.  ,
Where do all the weapons, contraband seized by CBP go?  ,
The border agents have forfeited the weapons and ammunition that they believe are illegal, according to the organization. Once that occurs, the title on those weapons goes to the government, after which the weapons are promptly destroyed, usually by melting, a CPB spokesperson said.  ,
Contractors are responsible for the melting, but a CBP team is in charge of it entirely, according to the organization.
Before crossing the border last year, agents intercepted more than 3,300 guns and over 547, 000 gun parts and ammunition, according to CBP data.  ,
Ninety- five percent, or 1, 176, of those guns were stopped at the U. S. Mexico border, according to data. That amount reflects a massive seven fold increase from 2019,  , when CBP intercepted 173 guns, The Trace reported.  ,
” U. S. firearms trafficked into Mexico, along with the U. S.’s high demand for illegal drugs, contribute to security and drug crises on both sides of the border”, the U. S. Government Accountability Office said in a 2023 report on American security aid to Mexico.  ,
