In an unconventional and risky attempt to smuggle narcotics, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Ysleta international crossing in El Paso intercepted a 41-year-old American man with fentanyl hidden inside his body. According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the individual, a pedestrian border crosser, had concealed the drugs in his rectal cavity, totaling approximately one-third of a pound.
The CBP’s discovery was the result of a secondary examination initiated shortly after 7 p.m. on March 31 when a primary officer, after a brief interview with the man, felt something was amiss, despite the man’s attempt to pass through customs unnoticed, and a drug-sniffing dog later signaled the presence of narcotics. Officers faced resistance when the man refused a medical exam meant to confirm suspicions, leading to the involvement of a Homeland Security Investigations task force officer, whose quick action to secure a search warrant allowed hospital staff to perform an X-ray.
The medical exam performed just after midnight on April 1 confirmed the suspicions; there was indeed a foreign object inside the man, and CBP officers kept a vigil while he was under medical care. By 2 p.m. the same day, the man passed the packaged drugs, testing positive for fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that has been a player in the ongoing opioid crisis, with a weight of 0.31 pounds…