Strawberry truck caught with $12.7 million in methamphetamine at the border

A truck driver who claimed to be hauling strawberries aboard his tractor trailer from Mexico into the U.S. was arrested Saturday after customs officers stationed at a border crossing found nearly $13 million worth of methamphetamine on board. The driver, a 42-year-old Mexican man, was flagged down and inspected by a Customs and Border Protection officer working at the Pharr International Bridge. The truck was directed to the cargo processing center's massive, noninvasive X-ray machine, which CBP uses to scan a vehicle for illegal items without having to open it up. The truck was moved to the cargo processing center's docks where drug-sniffing dogs alerted law enforcement to narcotics.

When the truck was unloaded, CBP officers found 350 packages of methamphetamine that weighed 906 pounds. The meth was worth $12.7 million in street value. “This was an outstanding interception our officers accomplished this weekend,” Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry Director David Gonzalez said in a statement. “Our officers’ astute sense of awareness and tenacity is unparalleled and truly commendable.” The driver was arrested and later transferred into the custody of Homeland Security Investigations, a component of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/strawberry-truck-caught-with-12-7-million-in-methamphetamine-at-the-border

FDA Warns Against ‘Young Blood’ Infusions, Says There’s No Benefit

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning about “vampire” treatments that involve injecting plasma from young donors in an attempt to reverse aging, saying it hasn’t been proven to have medical benefits. The procedure works as follows: People are infused with the blood from young people, and clinics claim that the procedure is like a fountain of youth. Claims include slowing memory loss, aging, dementia, and a whole host of issues. “There is no proven clinical benefit of infusion of plasma from young donors to cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent these conditions, and there are risks associated with the use of any plasma product,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb said in a statement on Feb 19.

“The reported uses of these products should not be assumed to be safe or effective,” he added, saying that the FDA strongly discourages people from using this treatment. “Outside of clinical trials under appropriate institutional review board and regulatory oversight,” they shouldn’t be used, he said. The commissioner added there are “a growing number of clinics” offering plasma from younger donors. “Treatments using plasma from young donors have not gone through the rigorous testing that the FDA normally requires in order to confirm the therapeutic benefit of a product and to ensure its safety,” he added. “As a result, the reported uses of these products should not be assumed to be safe or effective.” “Treatments using plasma from young donors have not gone through the rigorous testing that the FDA normally requires in order to confirm the therapeutic benefit of a product and to ensure its safety,” he added. “As a result, the reported uses of these products should not be assumed to be safe or effective.” The agency, he said, is concerned that “unproven purposes could also discourage patients suffering from serious or intractable illnesses from receiving safe and effective treatments that may be available to them,” saying that the plasma itself could be harmful.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/fda-warns-against-young-blood-infusions-says-theres-no-benefit_2807613.html