By Tim Binnall
A pair of bizarre smuggling busts at the US-Mexico border yielded a whopping 230 pounds of bologna that travelers had attempted to sneak into the country. Detailed in an announcement by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the initial incident occurred on February 25th at the Bridge of Americas port of entry in El Paso when officers stopped an American couple who were returning home in two separate cars. Upon inspecting the first vehicle, cops uncovered several "rolls of prohibited pork bologna" that the man said he was being paid to import into the United States. The case became even more complex when it was determined that the duo constituted something of a clandestine cold cut convoy as even more of the deli meat was discovered in the second car.
Ultimately, police seized a jaw-dropping 110 pounds of bologna from the couple, who were promptly fined for "failure to declare commercial quantities" of the meat. Strangely enough, however, that was not the only such tasty case to recently occur as, just three days later at the Santa Teresa border crossing in New Mexico, agents caught an American man trying to enter the country with a staggering 120 pounds of the delicious sandwich staple in the form of 13 undeclared rolls of the prohibited pork product. All told, authorities took possession of an astounding 230 pounds of bologna between the two busts.
While some may find the incidents amusing, an official with Customs and Border Protection stressed that the busts were no laughing matter. "People will sometimes make light of these seizures but there is nothing funny about these failed smuggling attempts, Hector Mancha said, "the importation of unregulated pork products has the potential to introduce foreign animal diseases which can be detrimental to our nation's agriculture industry." To that end, lest one think that all of the seized bologna wound up being eaten by border patrol officers, the agency indicated that was sadly not the case and, in fact, the meat was "destroyed" by way of incineration, which wound presumes smelled rather delicious.