Sweep at Port of Wilmington nets marijuana, heroin with fentanyl
Wilmington DE April 22 2018 A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) led a multi-agency team that seized fentanyl-laced heroin and marijuana and arrested three people during a random compliance examination at the Port of Wilmington, Del.,Wednesday.
The law enforcement agencies also found two people in the area had outstanding arrest warrants.
Themulti-agency team also consisted of Homeland Security Investigations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration, Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Delaware State Police, and Delaware National Guard Counterdrug Task Force.
“This compliance examination of federally-bonded warehouses at the Port of Wilmington is designed to ensure compliance with federal port security regulations, to detect and disrupt the smuggling of illicit contraband and humans through the seaport environment, to improve working relationships between the pier and participating law enforcement agencies, and to identify and protect our nation and our citizens against all potential threats,” said Joseph Martella, CBP area port director for the Area Port of Philadelphia.
According to a release, Customs bonded warehouse is a building or other secured area in which imported dutiable merchandise may be stored, manipulated, or undergo manufacturing operations without payment of duty for up to five years from the date of importation. Upon entry of goods into the warehouse, the warehouse proprietor incurs a liability for the merchandise under a warehouse bond.
Authorities arrested a man near one warehouse who was in possession of a distributable amount of fentanyl-laced heroin. The mix is potentially fatal. The man was not identified.
Authorities discovered a combined 62 grams of marijuana in the possession of two other men near another warehouse. Neither man was arrested. Authorities seized the marijuana and escorted the men off the port facility.
While inspecting Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) cards of arriving port workers, authorities detected two men with outstanding Delaware arrest warrants. Delaware State Police took the two men into custody.
