Officials say nearly 20,000 pounds of narcotics were seized at ports of entry last year in 12 Midwestern states, including Illinois and Indiana.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced recently that its Chicago field office, which covers the 12 states, had the most narcotics seizures for the second year in a row of any other field office. The agency’s data is from Oct. 1, 2018 to September 30 of this year. In total, there are 20 field offices.
More than 15,000 packages were seized at ports of entry. The top narcotics seized were Ecstasy, prescription drugs and marijuana.
Federal officials say smugglers are often creative when it comes to shipping drugs. Contraband has been found inside rolls of cheese, stuffed animals, bags of coffee, and tombstones.