LAREDO, Texas (AP) — A U.S. program that offers trusted trucking companies speedy passage across American borders is attracting just the sort of customer who places a premium on avoiding inspections: Mexican drug smugglers.
Most trucks enrolled in the program pause at the border for just 20 seconds before entering the U.S. Nine out of 10 do so without their cargo inspected.
But in the small fraction of trucks that are inspected, authorities have found multiple loads of contraband. They seized nearly 13 tons of marijuana in a three-week period last spring.
Some experts are now questioning if the program makes sense when drug traffickers are willing to do almost anything to smuggle their shipments into the U.S.
