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$6M in marijuana seized from trucks at US-Canada border

Manifests claimed paper was the cargo, CPB says

U.S. border officers discovered the marijuana in shipments manifested as paper. (Photo: U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

Over $6 million worth of marijuana was seized from two commercial trucks that were attempting to cross the U.S. border from Canada with shipping manifests claiming an especially mundane cargo: paper. 

The seizures happened within a day of each other near Buffalo, New York, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement on Friday. The drivers in both cases are under investigation, CBP spokesperson Mike Niezgoda told FreightWaves in an email, declining to provide further details.

The most recent seizure happened Wednesday during an inspection of a tractor-trailer at the Lewiston Bridge border crossing. CBP officers found 1,275 packages of marijuana in the trailer, CBP said. 

It came a day after CBP officers discovered 1,663 pounds of marijuana during an inspection of a tractor-trailer at the Peace Bridge crossing. 


It was unclear if the drivers were arrested or released pending an investigation. 

CBP officials have reported a record level of marijuana seizures from commercial trucks at Buffalo and Detroit ports of entry since the U.S.-Canada border closed for non-essential travel in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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One Comment

  1. Scooby doo

    Steal what you can for Zimbabwe America isn’t going to be around much longer. I seen 2 black guys say while taking parts off the fuel pumps at the Jackson Georgia Loves then get in their owner operator truck and trailer driving as their own trucking company parked in the Fuel island and leave.

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Nate Tabak

Nate Tabak is a Toronto-based journalist and producer who covers cybersecurity and cross-border trucking and logistics for FreightWaves. He spent seven years reporting stories in the Balkans and Eastern Europe as a reporter, producer and editor based in Kosovo. He previously worked at newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the San Jose Mercury News. He graduated from UC Berkeley, where he studied the history of American policing. Contact Nate at [email protected].