CBP Seizes Marijuana Shipments Destined to Bermuda, Ireland
CBP seized eight pounds of marijuana headed to Bermuda a week after it seized 72 pounds of marijuana headed for Ireland, the agency said in a pair of notices.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
CBP's officers are "seeing a stream of bulk marijuana being illegally carried in baggage or shipped out of the United States," Rene Ortega, acting area port director for CBP’s Area Port of Philadelphia, said in a May 10 notice. "CBP officers will continue to seize marijuana when we encounter it and deliver consequences to drug couriers who violate our nation’s laws."
The marijuana destined for Bermuda was in seven vacuum-sealed bags in an air fryer that was being shipped from New Jersey May 2, the CBP said. The marijuana is worth about $17,000 in the U.S. but about $150,000 in Bermuda because "high-potency U.S. marijuana is fetching prices many times higher across the globe," the agency said.
The shipment to Ireland had a street value of $160,000 in the U.S. and $460,000 in Ireland. Homeland Security Investigations arrested Bryan Nelson Gonzalez Rodriguez of Monterey Park, California, who loaded the marijuana in luggage onto an Ireland-bound flight at Philadelphia International Airport. He faces state felony charges of narcotics possession with intent to distribute.