Texas Cops Stop Smugglers With 243 lbs. of Bologna at the Border

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If I asked you to list the top 10 most likely things to be smuggled into the United States via the Texas - Mexico border, would lunch meat be on that list?  Unless you're currently involved in the underground-deli mafia, probably not.  Yet, that's exactly the situation agents working at the Paso Del Norte and Ysleta border crossings in El Paso, Texas had to deal with last month.

Texas Authorities Intercepted 243 lbs. of Illegal Bologna Coming from Mexico in 2 Separate Shipments

CBS DFW reports that on January 13th, agricultural specialists working at the border crossing intercepted a shipment of contraband bologna being smuggled into Texas.  In total, agents seized 55 lbs. of the prohibited pork product hidden under the seats and in the trunk of a Albuquerque, New Mexico resident who confessed to agents that he sold the illegal meat in the U.S. at twice the price he paid in Mexico for it.

The Second Load of Smuggled Mexican Bologna Discovered in Texas Was Way Bigger Than the First

Then, a larger cache of black-market bologna was discovered just 9 days later when a Pueblo West, Colorado woman who claimed she had nothing to declare was found to be smuggling 19 rolls of pork bologna weighing 188 lbs. inside her luggage, under the back seat, and in duvet covers.

Smuggling Pork Products into the U.S. isn't Just Illegal, It's Dangerous

Experts say that pork products smuggled into the country could introduce animal diseases that could do serious damage to our economy and agriculture. The unnamed individuals who were caught trying to smuggle the Mexican bologna were each hit with a $1,000 fine for "failure to declare commercial quantities of bologna."