Who knew that bologna smuggling was a real thing — let alone a problem.
In a press release from Monday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said that they’ve seized 230 pounds of “prohibited pork bologna” on two separate incidents recently.
CBP El Paso Director of Field Operations Hector Mancha said, “People will sometimes make light of these seizures, but there is nothing funny about these failed smuggling attempts. The importation of unregulated pork products has the potential to introduce foreign animal diseases which can be detrimental to our nation’s agriculture industry.”
In the first incident, a married couple from El Paso, Texas drove two separate cars in an attempt to get the bologna across the border. When the hidden meat was discovered — a combined 110 pounds between the two –the husband, 23, admitted that a friend paid him to import it.
The second incident involved a 59-year-old male from Santa Fe, New Mexico, who attempted to bring in 13 rolls of the pork bologna weighing 120 pounds.
The individuals were issued civil penalties for failure to declare commercial quantities of bologna. The bologna was seized and destroyed by CBP per USDA regulations.