Cocaine Worth $11.8 Million Found In Baby Wipes In Texas By Border Officials

US Customs and Border Protection said that nearly 2,000 packages of baby wipes were seized in Laredo, Texas Friday after federal officers discovered cocaine hidden inside the items.

The seizure took place at the Laredo-Colombia Solidarity International Bridge, according to a press release.

NPR reported that the bridge is located on the US-Mexico border, and connects Laredo over the Rio Grande with Nuevo León in Mexico.

Officers discovered more than 1,500 pounds of suspected cocaine inside a truck, purportedly carrying a huge shipment of baby wipes. The vehicle was referred for inspection when it entered Laredo. A "non-intrusive" examination, which involved drug dogs, was done. It revealed that 1,935 packages inside the 2016 Stoughton trailer contained almost as many pounds of cocaine. The shipment's street value totaled more than $11.8 million, according to officials' estimation.

Alberto Flores, the port director in Laredo, said in a statement that officers assigned to CBP cargo facilities "ensure effective border security by preventing and countering the flow of suspected narcotics entering the country." He noted that the Friday seizure is a "prime example of border security management and how it helps prevent dangerous narcotics from reaching our communities."

Randy Howe, director of field operations at the CBP office in Laredo, tweeted about the "record-setting" drug seizure. He called it the "largest cocaine bust in 20 years."

The seizure is being investigated by special agents at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations.

Throughout the summer, Border patrol officers in Laredo have reported smaller cocaine seizures. Last month, the agency said that it seized a shipment of fentanyl from a car entering America from Mexico. It was worth $390,000.

In June and July, CBP said that agents found a shipment of alleged cocaine worth more than $600,000 in the tires of a trailer said to be transporting juice. They also found more than $1 million worth of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine inside a shipment of statues at the Laredo-Columbia Solidarity International Bridge.

Between May 26 to May 27, CBP officers in Brownsville, Texas, used drug-sniffing dogs and the non-intrusive inspection system to intercept two loads of cocaine and one load of meth. A combined estimated street value was $1,069,619, reported Border Report.