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Arizona Still Ranks First In Border Drug Seizures

The Arizona border is no longer the hot spot for illegal immigration on the Southwest border, but it is still the number one location for drug seizures.

Year-end statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show more than 928,000 pounds of drugs were seized at the Arizona border last year. That’s 43 percent of all drug seizures on the Southwest border. Texas ranked a close second with more than 914,000 pounds of drugs seized.

In other forms of border enforcement, such as the number of border apprehensions, and currency seizures, Texas outpaced Arizona, California and New Mexico.

Among the drugs seized at the Arizona border last year were 128 bales of marijuana disguised as watermelons. They were discovered in Nogales in May.

That particular seizure made the Customs and Border Protection’s end of year "Top 10 List" of all seizures from 2015.

Jude Joffe-Block was a senior field correspondent at KJZZ from 2010 to 2017.