June 8, 2020

People Are Still Smuggling Cannabis In and Out of The United States

June 8, 2020
U.S. Border Patrol

Smuggling weed into and out of the United States continues to be a game of cat and mouse with border authorities who deal with low-tech importers who stash weed in fake fruit and high end smugglers who recall Tom Clancy’s “Hunt for Red October.”

At the lower end of the technology spectrum, customs officials in California recently found more than 5 ½ tons of marijuana at the border that had been listed on the manifest as Mexican limes.

A tractor-trailer supposedly carrying the juicy limes entered the Otay Mesa Cargo port of entry near San Diego on June 4, 2020 when a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent decided to take a closer look at the load and discovered “anomalies,” according to a press release issued by the CBP.

When officers opened the boxes of limes they found 468 packages of tightly-packed bundles of marijuana, weighing more than 11,000 pounds, or 5.5 tons. Naturally the CBP seized the packages, noting that they had a street value of about $8.4 million.

The driver of the lime/cannabis laden tractor-trailer, a 74-year-old Mexican man, was arrested and turned over to Homeland Security Investigations, also known as ICE.

“Criminals and other bad actors will try to get past us, but CBP officers are focused on protecting our communities from illicit drugs,” Division Director Rosa Hernandez said in the release.

Meanwhile, there are those trying to get out of the United States with weed.

Glen Richard Mousseau, of Canada, was found floating in the Detroit River, which forms part of the international border between Canada and the United States. The 28-mile long river is 2.5 miles at its widest point between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario.  

And though the Detroit River is not very deep, about 18 to 52 feet in depth, that didn’t stop Mousseau from using his own submarines to smuggle drugs between the US and Canada on a regular basis, until he was caught in May 2020 by U.S. authorities.

After his arrest, Mousseau spilled the beans about his entire underwater smuggling operation, which included running cannabis, cocaine and money back and forth the Detroit River in his own submarines.

After his detailed confession, authorities released Mousseau and allowed him to stay at a hotel in Flat Rock, Michigan while the investigation continued.

Apparently on June 5, 2020, Mousseau got bored with his hotel digs and tired of waiting for his trial date, so he fled in the middle of the night with as much stash as he could carry.

He was soon found floating unconscious in the Detroit River tethered to 265 pounds of floating bags of marijuana fastened to him with a tow strap, reported the Detroit Free Press.

Though Mousseau survived the attempt to swim home with his weed, he now faces federal charges for drug possession, smuggling and immigration violation that could send him to prison for more than 10 years.

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