(Last Updated On: September 8, 2021)

An American man is charged with conspiring to sneak 3,000 pounds of marijuana into the United States in a truckload of furniture. Miguel Ascencion, of Detroit, Michigan, told police that he ordered the furniture a month prior from a person in Guadalajara, Mexico. The contact in Mexico told Ascencion that he could make extra money by smuggling illegal drugs within the furniture. The 299 pieces of wood were then filled with marijuana and packed into a truck.

How the Feds Found Out

The drug bust was made on July 9 at the Mexican border in Laredo, Texas. An X-ray examination of the semi showed that something was amiss with the furniture. Federal agents drilled through the bottom of the trailer into the furniture and discovered the marijuana. The furniture was being shipped to a Detroit address, and the shipping invoice was to Ascencion. Federal agents pretended to be the truck driver and called Ascencion on July 25, asking where to deliver the goods. Ascencion directed them to a different address on Chopin Street. When agents arrived with the truck, Ascencion helped them unload the furniture and was subsequently arrested.

Ascencion has been charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute at least 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.

Mexican Long-haul Trucks Allowed Across U.S. Border

The bust came only three days after the United States and Mexico signed an agreement that would reinstate permission for Mexican carriers to operate in the United States.Trucks are required to submit to an inspection every time they cross the border for the first three months. This bust makes it clear that the inspections are useful, as well as warranted, so long as Americans and Mexicans are cooperating to smuggle illegal products into the U.S.

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