Woman Tries To Hide Heroin In Body Cavity While Entering US From Mexico

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers have seized over two ounces of heroin from a woman entering the country from Mexico. The woman tried to smuggle the substance by placing it inside her vaginal cavity.

KFOX14 reports that the heroin was seized by officers at the Ysleta area port of entry on April 16. The 47-year-old woman was selected for secondary screening, during which officers identified a cylindrical object hidden in her vagina. The object was revealed to be a container for contents that tested positive for heroin. The woman was turned over to U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations agents to face charges in connection with the failed smuggling attempt.

The incident is just a microscopic part of the ongoing flood of narcotics smuggling with which Customs and Border Patrol have to contend. In 2019, agents seized over 136,400 pounds of drugs. While there have been increased cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico, drugs continue to find their way into the former’s borders through multiple avenues.

Meanwhile, heroin and other types of opioids kill thousands of Americans each year. Although the nation saw a modest decline in overdoses in 2018, there were still over 67,360 Americans that succumbed to fatal overdose, nearly 15,000 of which were directly attributed to heroin.

“Smuggling organizations will use every imaginable concealment method to try to get the narcotics through our international ports of entry,” said CBP Ysleta Port of Entry Director Arnoldo “Arnie” Gomez. “This type of narcotic concealment illustrates why CBP officers have to be constantly vigilant in conducting their inspections.”

At the El Paso border, where the incident took place, drug trafficking is being directly impacted by the onset of COVID-19. The El Paso Times reports that despite the COVID-19 health threat, El Paso police, sheriff's deputies and federal agents continue working and making drug busts even though much of the city has largely been shut down due to stay-at-home directives amid the pandemic.

Street-level drug dealers are trying to stretch their supplies and there's been a slight increase in the prices of illegal drugs at the wholesale and retail levels Scarcity and convenience are the driving force behind the increases, according to authorities.