By Steve Neavling

CBP officers suspected right away that the soup cans they were inspecting didn’t contain a hearty broth. 

While inspecting international express delivery parcels on Wednesday, CBP officers spotted a purple liquid leaking from 12 liter-sized cans labeled “Dutch Canned Vegetable Chicken Soup.”

Using an elemental isotope analysis tool, CBP officers learned that the contents of the cans were MDMA, which is synthetic ecstasy. 

The MDMA, which was destined for Miami, weighed 24 pounds, 4 ounces. 

“Crooked consumers continue to purchase dangerous drugs and controlled substances from unscrupulous international vendors, chemicals that consist of unverified ingredients that could potentially harm or kill our nation’s citizens,” Joseph Martella, CBP’s area port director in Philadelphia, said in a news release. “Customs and Border Protection officers remain steadfast in our commitment to searching through the proverbial haystack to intercept the needle of illicit shipments.”

On an average day in fiscal year 2021, CBP seized or disrupted 4,732 pounds of drugs in the U.S. 

By Steve Neavling

A former TSA agent accused of smuggling what he believed was methamphetamine though Los Angeles International Airport was arrested Tuesday. 

Michael Williams, 39, was charged with one count of attempting to distribute methamphetamine. 

Williams was the subject of an undercover operation in 2020 after federal authorities believed he was helping smuggle narcotics past security checkpoints at LAX. On two different occasions during the investigation, William met with a “drug source” to collect a backpack full of what actually was fake meth, which he was to smuggle into LAX and deliver it to a source inside a men’s restroom during his shift. In exchange, he received a total of $8,000 in cash, according to the Justice Department.  

Williams was caught on LAX security cameras leaving the restroom in his uniform before starting his shift, according to the DOJ.  

Williams faces up to 20 years in prison. 

The FBI and DEA assisted in the investigation.