Record-Setting 1.7 Tons of Meth Worth $1.29 Billion Seized at Los Angeles Port

(The AEGIS Alliance) – A record-setting 1.7 tons of methamphetamine was seized by authorities at Los Angeles port. The meth is estimated to be worth $1.29 billion.

Australian and U.S. authorities carried out the joint drug bust during the middle of January at Long Beach / Los Angeles seaport.

The seizure of three containers was announced by Customs and Border Protection on Thursday. The containers of meth were intended to be shipped over to Australia but were searched on January 11 before that could happen. Inside the containers were artfully drug stuffed speakers. The containers were filled with these speakers.

3,180 pounds of meth were seized, additionally the shipment also contained 11.5 pounds of heroin and 55.9 pounds of cocaine. The total street value was $1.29 billion according to Australian officials.

“There’s no question that the criminal organization behind this scheme has been dealt a significant blow,” said Joseph Macias in a statement, who is a special agent-in-charge for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Los Angeles. “Along with our law enforcement partners here and around the world, we continue in a day-to-day battle against the blight of methamphetamine that continues to devastate our communities. Through a collaborative effort — pooling our information, resources and expertise — we are keeping this dangerous contraband from reaching our streets and potentially saving lives.” he continued.

According to police, the bust was the largest amount of meth ever seized in the United States. Six people have been arrested authorities said, and are four Australians and two Americans. Australian police identified the Americans as a 46 year old woman and a 52 year old man living in Woodstock, Victoria.

This is the third major bust and seizure that has been announced by U.S. authorities during the past weeks. The largest ever fentanyl bust was announced by CBP on January 31. 254 pounds of the powerful opioid worth around $3.5 millions were seized at the Nogales Port of Entry in Arizona during that bust.

Two days afterwards, the County Sheriff’s Office of Maricopa, Arizona announced that they seized 3,500 pounds of marijuana and more than 220 pounds of meth near Gila Bend after a couple trucks swerved around a border patrol checkpoint and attempted to elude authorities in a desert chase. I’m all for marijuana legalization and decriminalization nation-wide in the U.S., but the legality of it should be considered.

Kyle James Lee – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.