Customs won’t let man get away with b-o-l-o-g-n-a
Monday, April 25, 2005 Posted: 1:50 PM EDT (1750 GMT)
(CNN) — Customs agents protecting the U.S. border with Mexico found and destroyed more than 800 pounds of bologna hidden under clothes in a man’s suitcases, the Department of Homeland Security said Monday.
The man planned to sell the food at a local swap meet, but agents caught him April 4 when his bus en route to Albuquerque, New Mexico, reached a checkpoint north of Las Cruces, New Mexico, the department said in a written statement.
During routine inspection of the baggage, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents found more than 80 large rolls of the smoked meat — totaling 845 pounds — in one man’s set of suitcases, the statement said.
Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner called the discovery a sign of successful efforts to “coordinate inspection and enforcement on everything from illegal drugs and illegal aliens to prohibited agricultural products.”
It was unclear what happened to the suspect, who officials did not identify.
He stood to make a hefty profit, the statement said. “The processed bologna rolls, which cost about $7 or $8 in Mexico, can bring three or four times that price in the United States,” the statement read. “…USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) has approved a few Mexican processing plants to export bologna to the United States; however this particular product contained no indication of its origin.”
The statement also suggested the seizure could have averted potential medical problems. “In addition to the danger pork-based bologna could pose from animal diseases such as classical swine fever, CBP (Customs and Border Protection) agriculture specialists say this product is usually transported without refrigeration, which carries still other health risks.”
from: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/25/smuggled.bologna/index.html
