Michigan border sees 1,700% increase in drug seizures

DETROIT — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials say they’ve had an unprecedented year with a 1,700% increase in marijuana seizures and 200% increase in seized firearms during the pandemic.

The seizures were conducted by the Detroit Field Office, which oversees the Ambassador Bridge, Detroit Windsor Tunnel, the

Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, the International Bridge in Sault Ste. Marie and the Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

From Oct. 1, 2019, through Sept. 30, drug enforcement operations in Michigan’s five ports netted more than 9,000 pounds of marijuana, 211 pounds of cocaine, more than 1.5 pounds of methamphetamines, and 15 pounds of fentanyl, which has the potential to kill more than 3 million people, officials announced Tuesday.

A total of 203 firearms were seized, a 227% increase from last year, along with 5,334 rounds of ammunition. Anything not included in a prosecution investigation will be destroyed, said Christopher Perry, director of field operations for CBP Detroit.

"The increased demand, with the border of being close to nonessential travel making it much more difficult for the smuggling organizations to move their that their products,” Perry said. “They’re becoming more desperate.”

Undeclared currency seized totaled $4.6 million, which will be returned to the U.S. Treasury’s general fund.

A total of 225 people were arrested during the fiscal year, charged with smuggling narcotics or people, firearm violations and fraud. That is down from 549 arrests made in the previous year when the border was open.

If not for COVID travel restrictions, Perry believes the department would have surpassed the number of weapons and arrests of previous years.

Additionally, agriculture specialists intercepted 2,010 pests that could have caused a detrimental effect on the American agriculture industry, Perry said. Items include a khapra beetle, a destructive pest of grain products and seeds. Uniquely, Detroit intercepts two-thirds of all illicit biological materials entering the U.S. through carry-ons at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

“Some of these things are microscopic,” he said. “Our specialists are scientifically trained to detect things that if they were to enter the U.S. or they were able to propagate themselves, could do tremendous damage and spread diseases to humans or animals.”