{"id":172917,"date":"2026-02-20T14:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/172917\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T14:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T14:04:17","slug":"feds-seize-over-36-pounds-of-cocaine-from-tractor-in-south-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/172917\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds seize over 36 pounds of cocaine from tractor in South Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/gettyimages-1083178796.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-v-7d0efd03=\"\"\/> article <\/p>\n<p data-v-7d0efd03=\"\">A US Customs and Border Protection vehicle drives at the gate of the border fence at the US-Mexican border on January 15, 2019, in McAllen, Texas. (Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO \/ AFP) (Photo credit should read SUZANNE CORDEIRO\/AFP via Getty Images) <\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">BROWNSVILLE, Texas &#8211; U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized nearly half a million dollars\u2019 worth of suspected cocaine hidden inside a tractor at the Veterans International Bridge cargo facility.<\/p>\n<p>   Details of the cocaine seizure <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTBC\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-2899190a=\"\">What we know:<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">CBP says the seizure occurred Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026 when officers assigned to the bridge referred a 1987 Kenworth tractor for a secondary inspection after a non-intrusive imaging scan revealed anomalies.<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">During the secondary inspection, officers assisted by a canine unit discovered 16 packages concealed within the vehicle. The packages contained a total of 36.64 pounds of alleged cocaine, according to CBP.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/cbp-officers-at-brownsville-entry-36.64-pounds-of-cocaine-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-97c6a84c=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-97c6a84c=\"\">Packages containing 36.64 pounds of cocaine seized by CBP officers at Brownsville Port of Entry | Courtesy: U.S. Customs and Border Protection. <\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">The narcotics have an estimated street value of $489,226.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTBC\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-2899190a=\"\">What they&#8217;re saying:<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">&#8220;We must maintain our vigilance regardless of the mode of transportation and our officers\u2019 efforts led to this significant drug seizure, keeping it from reaching our streets,&#8221; said Tater Ortiz, port director for the Brownsville Port of Entry.<\/p>\n<p> Federal investigation launched <\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"KTBC\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-2899190a=\"\">What&#8217;s next:<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">CBP officers seized the suspected narcotics and the tractor. Homeland Security Investigations special agents have launched a criminal investigation.<\/p>\n<p data-v-2899190a=\"\">U.S. Customs and Border Protection says the Laredo Field Office has seized more than 63,000 pounds of narcotics since Jan. 21, 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: Information in this article was provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox7austin.com\/tag\/immigration\/us-border-security\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-2899190a=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Border Security<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox7austin.com\/tag\/immigration\/us-border-wall\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-2899190a=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">U.S. Border Wall<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox7austin.com\/tag\/crime-publicsafety\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-2899190a=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Crime and Public Safety<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox7austin.com\/tag\/us\/tx\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-2899190a=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Texas<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article A US Customs and Border Protection vehicle drives at the gate of the border fence at the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1046,1724,223,27,29,28,216,393,21396,69863],"class_list":["post-172917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-immigration","tag-news","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-tx","tag-us","tag-us-border-security","tag-us-border-wall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}