Customs and Border Protection officer Moctezuma Flores looks through compressed bundles of trash, including medical waste, he found in a tractor-trailer on its way to the Santa Teresa landfill.
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Posted on 12/03/2005 9:48:33 AM PST by Zuben Elgenubi
Waste stopped
Border inspector finds bloody medical refuse
Louie Gilot
Saturday, December 3, 2005
SANTA TERESA -- The 18-wheeler was supposed to be importing scraps of fabric and plastic headed for a New Mexico landfill. Instead, it carried oozing medical waste.
Customs and Border Protection officer Moctezuma Flores inspected the trailer at the Santa Teresa port of entry Thursday night. After a routine X-ray spotted nine bales that weren't declared on the manifest, Flores took a closer look at the tightly bound mix of materials.
He came face to face with bunched up, bloody gauze.
"We sealed everything up and called" the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Flores said.
The bales weighed 1,200 to 1,500 pounds, but it was impossible to know how much of the medical waste was mingled with the pieces of fabrics and festive candy-cane plastic bags. A quick overview found blood-stained gauze and a bag of unidentified, yellowish body fluids, squeezed among the cargo. A mystery blue liquid leaked from a package.
The shipment came from Mexico, but officials declined to name the importer and the shipper, because they committed a civil, not a criminal, violation.
The violators may end up paying between $40,000 and $60,000 in fines and costs.
The rest of the cargo included teddy bears and drinking cups supposedly headed for the dump.
"But some of the stuff is in good shape and could have ended up on store shelves somewhere," said Roger Maier, Customs and Border Protection spokesman.
"It's rare and it's scary," he said.
The Centers for Disease Control found no risk of airborne contamination -- only a risk if someone touched the hazardous material.
Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com, 546-6131.
Customs and Border Protection officer Moctezuma Flores looks through compressed bundles of trash, including medical waste, he found in a tractor-trailer on its way to the Santa Teresa landfill.
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I'd like to know why we import garbage from Mexico to put in a dump.
"I'd like to know why we import garbage from Mexico to put in a dump."
Why not, we already import their criminals and other assorted trash and put them in our cities.
Nafta, isn't it great?
That is one hell of a question.
ping
And why is it not a criminal offense? Should be, if you ask me.
*cringe*
That's pretty disgusting.
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
I'd like to know why we import garbage from Mexico to put in a dump"""
AMEN. There are plenty of canyons and holes in that country to put their own crap into.
to open US highways to Mexican trucks.
Ask a trucker to donate the the GOP. arghh
Those smugglers are smart. The knew the inspectors wouldn't look inside the bales and find the drugs. Sure, they lost the shipment, but no one is going to jail.
bump
It's garbage Americans won't throw away.
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