Border Patrol Seizes More Than 3,600 Pounds of Cheese

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol finds many different types of goods that are brought into the country illegally and the latest incident at the traffic checkpoint located in the south Texas town of Falfurrias involved some very unusual merchandise.

According to the Border Patrol, when a white Ford truck, driven by a male, approached the checkpoint, the Border Patrol agent who was interviewing the driver detected a strange odor coming from the U- haul that the truck was pulling. The truck driver gave the agent permission to search the trailer and when he did, he discovered several ice chests, which upon examination were found to contain white cheese. He also spotted a small bird cage containing two parrots. At this point, the driver was told to park in a secondary area so he could be questioned further.

During the questioning, the driver confessed to smuggling the cheese and the birds into the country and at that time the agents seized both the cheese and the birds.

During the course of the investigation, they were able to determine that the shipment of cheese had been bought at a flea market in the Rio Grande valley. They also determined that the driver of the truck did not have any type of document giving him the authority to bring the cheese into the country. They also determined that th birds had also been purchased at the same flea market and they had not been registered as all animals coming into the country need to be.

All in all, the agents seized 3,664 pounds of cheese with a value of $8,000. The two birds who were also seized were valued at $1,500. After they completed their investigation, the Border Patrol agents turned the driver, along with his truck, the U haul , the cheese and the birds over to the United States Department of Agriculture for investigation, who will conduct its own investigation.