Customs and Border Protection officers uncovered 47,063 suspected Oxycodone pills valued at $1.8 million during a standard border checkpoint examination of a vehicle passing from Mexico into Texas, the agency announced late Thursday.
Officers at the Laredo Port of Entry's Juarez-Lincoln Bridge said they found a total of $2.2 million of drugs in the 2010 Chevy Captiva headed north of the border into the United States. The driver was arrested.
The canine team and nonintrusive imaging unit also led officers to more than 18 pounds of what is believed to be heroin, valued at $420,000.
Oxycodone is the active ingredient in Oxycontin, a pain reliever that is classified as an opiate analgesic.
The suspect is a 33-year-old Mexican man from Nuevo Laredo, which is located directly over the border. He was taken into custody along with the narcotics, which will be tested to confirm chemical identity of the substances.
"These significant interceptions of hard narcotics and commonly abused controlled opioid medication underscore the grim reality of the drug threat our officers face every day and their resolute intent to uphold CBP’s border security mission,” Laredo Port Director Albert Flores said in a statement.