Authorities seize illicit deli meat and undeclared prescriptions at Texas border

It was just a bunch of bologna.

Authorities found hundreds of pounds of Mexican bologna and several medicine cabinets worth of pharmaceuticals in an SUV crossing into Texas from Mexico on Monday.

Roger Maier, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman, said officers at the port of entry in Presidio, Texas, uncovered the clandestine meat rolls in luggage and the medicine, which included narcotics, hidden in various panels of the SUV, along with $7,600 in cash.

Maier said the 43-year-old woman driving the vehicle, a U.S. citizen, was fined $1,000 while CBP officers seized the unauthorized pharmaceuticals, money and meat — destroying the latter in an incinerator.

CBP also seized the woman’s vehicle, Maier said, because “it was tool being used to transport the undeclared prohibited goods into the U.S.”

CBP officials have said in the past that some buy the bologna in Mexico, where it is made with a higher concentration of pork, and smuggle it north to sell at a higher price, where it can fetch $100 or more for a 10-pound roll in some areas.

“We stress that it is important that travelers educate themselves on what products are allowed to be legally entered from abroad. And even if they believe an item is allowed, travelers should still declare all items they are transporting to the U.S. to avoid fines and penalties,” CBP Presidio Port Director Benito Reyes Jr. said in a release. “The concern with pork products is that they have the potential to introduce foreign animal diseases that can have devastating effects to the U.S. economy and to our agriculture industry.”

Maier said around 4 p.m. the woman arrived at the Presidio port of entry from Mexico and “declared a cooked meal during the primary inspection.” He said CBP started a secondary exam on the SUV and found several suitcases which “seemed heavier than normal.”

Maier said CBP found 40 rolls of south of the border bologna, which totaled 748 pounds, in the suitcases. He said CBP then found the money and hundreds of boxes of undeclared medications, including opiates such as tramadol and benzodiazepines like Xanax and Valium, among others.